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World No. 25 Aslan Karatsev acknowledged that making a stunning comeback in his US Open second round clash was really important for his confidence. Karatsev, who stunningly made the Australian Open as a qualifier earlier this year, has been struggling with his form in recent months.
On Thursday, Karatsev entered his US Open second round clash against Jordan Thompson as the favorite but it was all but an easy match for the Russian. Karatsev was mightily struggling at the beginning of the match and it resulted in him losing the opening two sets.
However, Karatsev kept his composure as he recovered from two sets down to beat Thompson 3-6 3-6 7-5 7-6 (9) 6-1. Karatsev also saved two match points en route to claiming a comeback win over Thompson. "It was really important mentally, [it means] you’re getting tougher,” Karatsev said, per the ATP website.
“Especially when I had the last losses in the Grand Slams – Roland Garros, Wimbledon – and the US tournaments, so I think it’s really important to my confidence."
Karatsev was in this position before
In the Australian Open round-of-16, Karatsev won a total of four games in the first two sets against Felix Auger-Aliassime.
After easily losing the opening two sets, Karatsev recovered and beat Auger-Aliassime in five sets. Karatsev admitted he drew on the experience of having already recovered from two sets down at a Grand Slam. "A bit, a bit.
That was the same situation but I think with the match against Felix I played a bit better,” Karatsev said. “Here I was struggling mentally the first set, second set… I was 4-1 down in the second set. I came back to 4-3, lost the set and then I just figured out how to play, to find the key for the match, so I managed it well”. Karatsev plays next against Jenson Brooksby.