John Millman vs Karen Khachanov: Expect Khachanov in the semi-finals

John Millman, the world No. 62, will face Karen Khachanov, the world No. 31 in the Kremlin Cup quarter-final. They have played each other twice, Khachanov defeating John in Vancouver in 2015 first, and then, in January 2020, Millman took revenge in Auckland, New Zealand.

The match against Khachanov will be John Millman’s third at the tournament in Moscow. The world No. 62 knocked out Bonzi and Marchenko, winning both in three sets. Overall, Millman has already spent more than five hours on the courts of the Kremlin Cup 2021. Against the Ukrainian, John looked good on serve, which allowed Millman to win. Millman won just 27% of his points on his first serve from Marchenko and 59% on the second. We hope Khachanov serves better than Ilya.

Before the Kremlin Cup, Khachanov played three matches at Indian Wells, where he defeated Ruusuvuori and Carreño Busta, to lose to eventual finalist Basilashvili in two sets. In Moscow, as one of the four seeded players, Khachanov started in the second round and faced Duckworth, the world no. 52. The Australian lost the first set 3-6, but then took the lead and won two sets, 6-3, 6-1. It's nice to see how Karen has improved over the course of the match.

Three years ago Khachanov won the Kremlin Cup and of course he would like to win the trophy again, especially if Medvedev is not at the tournament, which means the chances are good. Khachanov played well against Duckworth and even managed to show his character, so qualifying for the semi-final for the Russian is more than realistic, taking into account the personality of his opponent in the quarterfinals. With all due respect to Millman, John is no top performer. That said, we doubt that Khachanov will defeat Millman in a straightforward contest, so here are some bets on this match: W2+TO (19.5) for 1.78.