Australian Open: Khachanov dishes out double bagel en route to straight-sets win over Nishioka

Karen Khachanov achieved something not seen at the Australian Open in 11 years as he beat Yoshihito Nishioka in straight sets at Melbourne Park.

The Russian number 18 seed remarkably won the first 14 games of the fourth-round contest, inflicting two double bagels on Japanese opponent on Sunday.

That had not been achieved in the men's draw since Philipp Petzschner won the first two sets against Lukas Rosol without losing a game in 2012, and was just the fifth time it had happened in the Open Era.

Khachanov completely dominated Nishioka until the third set, incredibly only dropping two points in the whole of the second.

Nishioka, seeded 31, showed some fight to force a third-set tie-break, but Khachanov came out on top in the breaker to seal his place in the quarter-finals, where he will face American Sebastian Korda.

"First two sets I didn't know what was going on, but it's never easy when you are going with the score too easy. You feel it," Khachanov said after the victory. "Then at one point Yoshi tried to turn it around, he pumped [up] the crowd and it's normal.

"I tried to stay focused all the match from the beginning until the end. But it's not easy to win with this score, three sets, so the third set it was a really tough one and I'm playing well, so I'm really happy to go through."

5 - Karen Khachanov’s bagels (6-0) in the opening two sets at the @AustralianOpen (R16) is the 5th time a player registered 6-0 6-0 in the opening 2 sets in AO in the open era and the 1st since Philipp Petzschner managed to do so against Lukas Rosol in 2012. Bonkers. #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/od6zyQSSeJ
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) January 22, 2023