PARIS: Karen Khachanov caused one of the shocks of the tennis year by overpowering Novak Djokovic 7-5, 6-4 in the Paris Masters final to end the Serbian’s remarkable spell of dominance in the men’s game on Sunday.

Khachanov became the third different first-time winner of a Masters tournament this year — joining John Isner and Juan Martin del Potro — and denied Djokovic a fourth title in a row ahead of his return to world number one on Monday.

“To finish the season like this is really a dream come true,” said Khachanov, who will rise to a career high of 12th when the latest rankings are published on Monday.

The 22-year-old Russian has for some time been seen as one of the rising young talents of the sport but few could have envisaged his demolition of the Serbian superstar, who was on a three-month, 22-match winning streak.

Djokovic was expected to win a record-extending fifth Paris title but he went down in one hour 37 minutes amid a hail of 31 crushing winners from the Muscovite’s racket.

Khachanov, who crushed Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-1 in the semi-final on Saturday, took advantage of Djokovic appearing to be a little under-the-weather after a week struggling with flu-like symptoms.

Yet even though the Serb may also have been suffering from the after-effects of his epic three-hour 7-6 (8-6), 5-7, 7-6 (7-3) win over Roger Federer in the semi-final on Saturday, nothing could be taken away from the outstanding quality of Khachanov’s attacking game.

Earning his fourth straight win over a top-10 player this week, Khachanov, a winner at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow last month, picked up the biggest title of his burgeoning career.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2018