Jesper de Jong reached the French Open fourth round for the first time on Friday after beating 15th-ranked Karen Khachanov in five sets, the biggest win of his career and a result that immediately reshaped his path in Paris.
The 106th-ranked Dutchman won 7-5, 5-7, 6-2, 6-7, 6-2, finishing off a match that swung hard in the fourth set before he regained control in the decider. De Jong had two match points at 6-5 in that fourth set, but Khachanov saved both and forced a tiebreak, delaying the upset and briefly threatening to flip it back the other way.
What made the result stand out was not just the ranking gap. Khachanov had come through his first two matches with only one set dropped, against wildcard Arthur Gea and 36-year-old Marco Trungelliti, while De Jong had already closed the curtain on Stan Wawrinka’s French Open career in the opening round and then outclassed Federico Cina in under two hours. By the time they met, Khachanov looked settled. De Jong looked sharper.
He backed that up from the first ball. De Jong won 95% of his first-service points in the opening set, made only five unforced errors and saved two break points to take the early advantage. Khachanov answered by breaking for the first time to move ahead 6-5 in the second set, then used that opening to level the match. The third set tilted back toward De Jong, who went 13 for 13 on first serve and allowed only three return points, enough to regain the lead and keep Khachanov under pressure.
The fourth set nearly turned the match inside out. De Jong broke serve on his first chance, surged to a 3-0 lead and later held those two match points at 6-5, only to see Khachanov save them and win the tiebreak. That should have been the opening for the seed to take command. Instead, De Jong reset immediately, broke twice to race to 4-0 in the fifth set and never let the match drift again.
For De Jong, the result is more than a surprise bracket line. He had never beaten a top-15 opponent on the ATP Tour before this match, and now he has done it on one of tennis’ biggest stages, against a player who had already survived two earlier rounds with far less damage than most. The French Open draw has already lost a seed and gained a new name, but the harder question now is whether De Jong can turn this breakthrough into a deeper run rather than a single afternoon upset.
