After 21-year-old Maks Kaśnikowski (181st ATP) unexpectedly advanced to the main tournament of the US Open, where he was eliminated in the 1st round, our tennis player did not have the best time. After competing in New York, the Pole lost three matches in a row: in the Davis Cup, the challenger in St. Tropez and qualifying for the ATP tournament in Shanghai. Then Kaśnikowski broke through in the challenger in Calgary, in which he reached the quarterfinals.
A successful rematch between Maks Kaśnikowski and the former 14th racket in the world
A week ago, Kaśnikowski was eliminated again after the first challenger meeting in Sioux Falls (USA). Then Kyle Edmund (ATP 350) defeated him 6:7, 6:4, 6:1.
October 8, 2018 – that's when the now 29-year-old Briton advanced to the highest place in his career in the ATP ranking. This happened, among others, after his advancement to the semi-finals of the Australian Open and two ATP tournament finals: in Marrakesh, where he lost to the Spaniard Pablo Andujar 2:6, 2:6 and in Antwerp, winning against the French Gael Monfils (53rd ATP) 3:6, 7:6 , 7:6. Since then, he has not had any success and his career has slowed down significantly.
Now there was a rematch – Kaśnikowski faced Edmund again – this time in the first round of the challenger in another American city – Charlottesville. The tennis players again fought a three-set duel. The first game was very even and was decided in the end. When the score was 4:4, the Briton first won his serve to zero, and then broke the Pole in an advantageous game. However, Kaśnikowski was able to get up. In the second game, from 2:3, he won three games in a row (including breaking the Briton in a long game in which there were four balances). In the third decisive set, the Pole gave his opponent no chance. Since the score was 2:2, he won four games in a row (three of them were decided on an advantage) and was happy with the victory after the match, which lasted two hours and 38 minutes.
Kaśnikowski's opponent in the 1/8 finals of the tournament will be American Ethan Quinn (ATP 219). This season, the Pole has a record of 40 wins and 27 losses. If he won the challenger in Charlottesville, he could move up to around 150th place in the ATP ranking.