Andreas Seppi silenced Australian supporters on Hisense Arena when he saved one match point in a comeback victory over local No. 14 seed Nick Kyrgios at the Australian Open on Wednesday night.
World No. 89 Seppi fought back from an 0-2 sets deficit and saved one match point at 7-8, Ad-out, in the deciding set to triumph 1-6, 6-7(1), 6-4, 6-2, 10-8 in three hours and 12 minutes. It was his fifth comeback from 0-2 sets down and his first win over Kyrgios, who had previous beaten Seppi at the 2014 US Open and 2015 Australian Open (8-6 in the fifth set).
“I remember the match from two years ago – it was pretty much the same,” said Seppi. “I knew what's going to happen, what it was going to be like on the court. It's always very, very tough to play in a crowd like this or stadium like this. But it was a great atmosphere.
“I just was focusing on my game. I served for the match before, lost my serve. I just tried to refocus, play like I did before. On match point, it was a big shot (a forehand) down the line. Maybe it was meant to be.”
Kyrgios admitted, ”It's obviously disappointing. But it was ultimately a pretty fun match. He's a great guy and he deserved it, so... I'm not going to beat myself up about it. It could have gone either way, really… I thought he served great today. I have got a lot of respect for him. He fights hard. He deserved it.”
Seppi now challenges Steve Darcis, a 6-3, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 winner over Diego Schwartzman.
Just five days on from appearing in his first ATP World Tour final, Briton Daniel Evans recorded the biggest win of his career in beating World No. 7 Marin Cilic of Croatia.
Evans, who is currently at a career-high No. 51 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, won 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 in just under three hours, hitting 29 winners to Cilic’s 55 winners. It was the first time Cilic had lost to a player ranked as low as Evans at the major since falling to No. 126-ranked Ilija Bozoljac as a qualifier in 2007.
“I was a bit taken aback how hard he hit the ball,” admitted Evans. “So I had to sort of get into the match and hang in at the start of the second [set]… Five sets is the ultimate test, I think. It was really good. I think I played as well as I can play today. I was really pleased with how I played especially towards the end of the match.”
The 26-year-old Evans is through to the third round of a major championship for the fourth time in his career and will now face Australian No. 27 seed Bernard Tomic, who beat Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic in four sets.
He beat No. 8-ranked Dominic Thiem en route to the Apia Sydney International final last week, when he lost to Gilles Muller in the title match. Read Report