New year, new Nick Kyrgios. Competing with newfound resolve and confidence, the talented Australian remained perfect in 2018 with a 7-0 record after winning the match of the Australian Open on Friday night. The 22-year-old Kyrgios harnessed the energy of the crowd on Rod Laver Arena en route to beating 2008 finalist and No. 15 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(5) – a high-quality encounter – over three hours and 18 minutes. "He's a tough opponent. He's beaten pretty much all the top guys in the world. I knew it was going to be an incredibly tough match. I was very nervous going out there today," Kyrgios said. "Obviously 2/5 down in the fourth set breaker, I...
Rafael Nadal has been business-like thus far in his three matches at the Australian Open and on Friday moved to within one victory of maintaining his hold on No. 1 in the ATP Rankings. The Spanish superstar tore past No. 28 seed Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia & Herzegovina 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 on Margaret Court Arena to reach the fourth round for the 11th time. “I’m happy to be through to the fourth round,” said Nadal. “I needed hours on court, hours of playing sets with different players. That's what I did. I think I had a good preparation here. I felt myself playing well. Here I am in the fourth round - that's because I am doing the right things....
Radu Albot and Hyeon Chung, the Next Gen ATP Finals titlist, scored a massive upset in the Australian Open doubles second round on Friday when they knocked out defending champions Henri Kontinen and John Peers 6-4, 7-6(5) in one hour and 35 minutes. Marginally stronger on serve, Albot and Chung survived a power barrage from the second seeds, who struck 29 winners, to convert one of their three break point opportunities for a place in the third round. They now await the winners of 15th seeds Marcin Matkowski and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, and Robert Lindstedt and Franko Skugor. Elsewhere, sixth seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, who lost to Kontinen and Peers in the 2017 title match, earned another hard-fought victory...
You don't have to play your best at a Grand Slam to advance; you just have to play better than the person across the net. And for the second consecutive match, Grigor Dimitrov, without the finest version of his world-class game, found a way to move on at the Australian Open and keep his maiden Grand Slam title hopes alive. [ALSO LIKE] The third seed persisted past #NextGenATP Russian Andrey Rublev on Friday on Rod Laver Arena 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the fourth round in Melbourne. Dimitrov will next face 17th seed Nick Kyrgios, who beat 2008 finalist and French 15th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Friday night. Read Report “These are the most important matches for me, when...
Every Grand Slam tournament Pablo Carreno Busta plays these days, the Spaniard just keeps improving his “best showing yet”. On Friday at the Australian Open, the World No. 11 prevailed past 23rd seed Gilles Muller 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 to reach the fourth round in Melbourne for the first time. Carreno Busta had also reached the third round Down Under last year. He achieved career-best showings at 2017 Roland Garros (QF) and 2017 US Open (SF). Carreno Busta did not play at 2017 Wimbledon (ab injury). [ALSO LIKE] But on Sunday in Melbourne, the right-hander will play for a chance to make the Australian Open quarter-finals because of some well-timed breaks late in the match. In the third set, Carreno...
