Nick Kyrgios came out on top in a three-set thriller against world number 6 Stephanos Tsitsipas in the round of 16 match at the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle, Germany yesterday.
Kyrgios who lost the first set 5-7 to the Greek star, recovered – after a heated exchange with the umpire and a broken racquet – to dominate the second set 6-2, and run out the winner 6-4 in the third set of the ATP 500 event.
While Tsitsipas led with 39 winners, including 18 aces, to Kyrgios’s 32 winners (and nine aces), it was the Greek-Australian who proved the more resolute in the match that lasted two hours and five minutes.
The website atptour.com reported that the result moved Kyrgios up the ranking from 65 to 52 and into a quarter final spot in the tournament. If he wins that match, Kyrgios will be back among the world’s top 50 for the first time since March 2021.
In the four encounters between the two players, Kyrgios enjoys a 3-1 edge. He was gracious about his opponent in the post-match interview predicting grand slam victories for the Greek.
“Stef is one of the best players in the world at the moment and he’s going to have some amazing results and I’m sure many, many Grand Slams. I don’t know if I can say the same for me, but I’m happy to still be able to produce this level with the tournaments I play. It is a testament to how hard I do work when I’m not playing,” Kyrgios said.
“I’m just super excited to move on as well, I want to keep having these big wins on the best courts in the world.”