Paris Masters: Karen Khachanov vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 11/02/20 Tennis Prediction

A very tight encounter is on our hands here in the first round of the 2020 Paris Masters as 2017 Champion, Karen Khachanov, meets up and comer, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Monday, November 2nd 2020. Will Khachanov be able to find the success in this tournament which allowed him to win in 2017, or will Fokina be able to cause an upset here?

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina is a very solid player and he is continously improving as his career grows. Fokina is more of a clay-court player, however, in recent weeks he has had some big wins under his belt such as 3 weeks ago at the Cologne 1 Open when he beat Marin Cilic in 3 sets. Fokina also was so close to beating the Cologne 2 Finalist, Diego Schwartzman, in the quarterfinals when he was a set and 5-2 up. Fokina was unable to close out that match and eventually lost it, however, he showed some amazing tennis in the first set and a half.

Karen Khachanov has struggled as of recent, losing to Milos Raonic in the semifinals of the 2020 St. Petersburg Open, to losing to Daniel Evans in the first round of the Antwerp Open, and eventually losing in the first round to Grigor Dimitrov in the Vienna Open last week. Khachanov knows his level needs to rise drastically as he has had so much success in this tournament and he has won it before. Khachanov is a solid player, but when his confidence is low, he is more prone to hitting errors.

This is going to be the first meeting between both players and it is going to be a very tight one. The obvious answer is to back Karen Khachanov to win, of course he is more experiences, has a better overall game and is more powerful. However, Fokina can cause him a huge threat if Khachanov is not playing his best. I expect Khachanov to come through here, but I believe it will be a 3-set match in which Fokina will bring his best game to Khachanov and push him to the limits.