Nick Kyrgios thundered 19 aces past Grigor Dimitrov Saturday night to charge into the final of the Brisbane International. The 22-year-old Australian rallied from a set down for the third consecutive match to beat the World No. 3 and top seed 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 to set a showdown with American Ryan Harrison.
Earlier in the day Harrison was within two points of defeat in the second-set tie-break against 18-year-old Australian Alex De Minaur before holding his nerve to win 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4.
Kyrgios leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against Harrison 2-0.
Maybe slow starts are a positive omen for Aussie Nick Kyrgios. For the third consecutive match, the third seed fell behind a set on Saturday evening at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp. But for the third consecutive match, Kyrgios found a way to come back, this time against defending champion Grigor Dimitrov to pick up his first win against the Bulgarian and advance to Sunday's final, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. "I hadn't beaten him before. Going into today, I knew that I was going to do something a little different. I was going to kind of just not give him too much rhythm. Come in a lot, be super aggressive off my returns. And obviously try and just serve, just...
All week in Brisbane, defending champion Grigor Dimitrov and a pair of Aussie semi-finalists – 18-year-old Alex de Minaur and Nick Kyrgios – had stolen the attention during the opening week of the ATP World Tour season. But quietly, Ryan Harrison of the U.S. had gone about his work, leading the tournament in aces and battling through a pair of early three-set contests. Now the American will go for his second ATP World Tour title in the past 11 months. Harrison ended the fairytale run of #NextGenATP de Minaur on Saturday afternoon, coming back from a 3/5 deficit in the second-set tie-break to advance 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3. Harrison will play in his third ATP World Tour final, all of which...
Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic first played together at Miami in March 2017, but began their partnership with a 7-7 record. According to Marach, their lack of early success led to a discussion about splitting up three months later in Stuttgart, where they would go on to reach the final, falling short against Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares. “I like to forget it,” Marach joked of the match Friday. Seven months later, you’d never think splitting was ever a possibility for the Austrian-Croatian duo. After a Grand Slam final at Wimbledon, the pair’s first title together at Stockholm and a match win at the Nitto ATP Finals (d. Bryan/Bryan) as alternates, Marach and Pavic were flying high. And after earning...
Former World No. 6 Gilles Simon rolled back the years on Friday to beat top-seeded Croatian Marin Cilic for the sixth time in seven FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings (6-1) for a place in the Tata Open Maharashtra final. Simon, making his debut at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament this week, recovered from a slow start to beat No. 6-ranked Marin Cilic, the two-time former champion, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 52 minutes. The Frenchman is now 32-82 lifetime against opponents in the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings. The 33-year-old Simon will now bid to improve upon his 12-6 record in ATP World Tour finals with his first title since February 2015 at the Open 13 Marseille...
