US Open: No. 3 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime upset by Karen Khachanov in second round

The US Open draw did No. 3 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime no favors by setting him up with Karen Khachanov in the second round. His body didn't do him many favors Thursday, either.

One of the more intriguing early matchups at Flushing Meadows ended with the unseeded Khachanov celebrating a 6-7, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win over the Canadian star, who appeared to be dealing with some physical discomfort during the match. Khachanov will face the winner of No. 32 seed Ignacio Buse and Benjamin Bonzi in the third round.

The 30-year-old Khachanov was not just another unseeded opponent. He might be ranked only No. 50 in the world now, but the veteran is a former top-10 player who reached the US Open semifinal in 2022 and has reached at least the third round in seven of his past eight Grand Slams.

He looked like a challenge for Auger-Aliassime from the start, taking him to a tiebreak after exchanging two breaks in the first set. Auger-Aliassime pulled that out, but had little success for the rest of the match.

Auger-Aliassime is usually one of the best servers on tour, and yet had to face 20 break points over the course of the match. He committed far more unforced errors as well, 47 to Khachanov's 30, and seemed to be diminished in general as the match went on.

He couldn't provide an exact diagnosis while speaking with reporters after the match, but described some symptoms:

"I just couldn't feel well and was dizzy and seeing spots. Yeah, couldn't recover. I thought maybe it would pass, but it didn't … Karen's a great player. I cannot beat him or anybody in this draw feeling the way I felt today."

It also sounded like the issue came out of nowhere:

"I've had cramps before, I felt OK. Tired towards the end of matches, but in a normal way. This was abnormal a little bit. And there was no signs in the last couple of days and no signs this morning as well. I'm not sure. I'm going to run some tests and see what comes out of it."

Combine all of that with some vintage form from Khachanov and the Canadian was facing a problem he couldn't solve.

Khachanov acknowledged Auger-Aliassime's issues in his postmatch interview:

"I'm not sure, I saw that maybe he had some physical issues. I guess it's part of our sport, part of tennis. I wish him to feel better, speedy recovery if he's injured, I don't know. What I can say from my side is I tried to give my best performance."

Auger-Aliassime reached the quarterfinal at Roland-Garros and Wimbledon this year and has reached the semifinal at the US Open in both 2021 and 2025.

It's also the latest bit of chaos in the men's draw, which saw No. 4 seed Novak Djokovic go down in the first round , as well as rising stars No. 10 Arthur Fils and No. 12 Rafael Jodar.

Even the top two players face question marks, as No. 1 Alexander Zverev needed a comeback in five sets to survive the first round , while No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz, who is playing his first tournament in more than four months, dropped his first set on Wednesday .