Karen Khachanov Knocks Out Third Seed Felix Auger-Aliassime at US Open

Felix Auger-Aliassime, of Canada, serves the ball to Karen Khachanov, of Russia, during the second round of the U.S. Open tennis championships Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo)

Karen Khachanov knocked out third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime from the US Open on Thursday, winning 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 to reach the third round.

The Russian, ranked No. 50 in the world, came into the tournament after losing the opening match in all three of his US Open warm-up events. But he took advantage of an off-colour Auger-Aliassime, whose level dropped as the match went on at Louis Armstrong Stadium.

After the match, Auger-Aliassime said he started feeling unwell during the contest and struggled to recover. "After a set and a half, I just couldn't feel well and was dizzy and seeing spots and couldn't recover," he said, as quoted by BBC. "I thought maybe it would pass, but it didn't.

"I've never felt quite like that. I've had cramps before. I've felt tired towards the end of matches, but in a normal way. "This was abnormal a little bit, and there were no signs in the last couple of days and no signs this morning, as well."

The defeat made Auger-Aliassime the highest-ranked player to exit the men's singles draw so far in New York. Khachanov, who reached the US Open semi-finals in 2022, broke the Canadian's serve seven times during the match. He also saved seven of the nine break points he faced.

The win is only Khachanov's second victory over a top-10 player at a Grand Slam and sends him into the third round in New York. The result meant Khachanov has now reached the third round of all four Grand Slam tournaments in a single calendar year for the first time.