Nick Kyrgios confessed that he had little more to give physically as his nine-match win streak came to an end in the quarter-finals of the ATP Montreal Masters on Friday.
The Wimbledon runner-up lost 7-6, 6-7, 6-1 to Polish powerhouse Hubert Hurkacz after coming to the court with 15 victories from his past 16 matches.
But the Australian had little left to give as his body began to complain.
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“My body hasn’t been feeling great the last week,” he said.
“I was feeling the abdominal (muscle) a little bit before the match. My knees hurt.”
Kyrgios kept the pace of the match brisk as he held his own in the first two sets before finally losing momentum in the third as Hurkacz took control.
The Aussie was annoyed as his opponent left the court for a change of clothes and bathroom break, a delay that ate into his fragile fitness.
During the broadcast, Kyrgios was overheard saying: “We’re not f***ing machines, bro. We can’t just go and stop, go and stop, go and stop.”
He later told reporters: “Obviously when you’re playing and you stop for like five to 10 minutes, it doesn’t help your body.
“My body was so stiff after that, I couldn’t move properly.
“I mean, it’s within the rules. I’m not going to complain. I completely stiffened up.”
World No. 37 Kyrgios, whose performance this week will send him into a seeded US Open spot, added: “I’m not a machine. I’m a human.”
Kyrgios won his first ATP title in three years last week at Washington and shared the doubles crown with Jack Sock, the first man in the event’s 53-year history to take both crowns in the same year.
“My knees were sore, my back was sore… I was trying to stay moving, but I just stiffened up,” Kyrgios said.
“My body hasn’t been feeling great the last week.”
Kyrgios said he needs a pause before returning to the fray next week at Cincinnati in the last major tuneup for the US Open, which begins August 29.
“I feel good, but the US Open is still two and a half weeks away. I have Cincinnati next week. That’s all I’m focusing on,” he said.
“I’m focusing on today, tonight, recovery, food, then just resting, then Cincinnati. That’s where my mind is at.”
Hurkacz overcame 53 winners from Kyrgios to halt the Australian’s nine-match winning streak. The No. 8 seed managed 43 winners of his own in a rapid-fire triumph that put him into his fourth semi-final at the Masters level.
Hurkacz will next face Norway’s fourth-seeded Casper Ruud, who crushed home-nation player Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 6-2, in 74 minutes.
Nick Kyrgios’ stunning purple patch has continued, with the Wimbledon runner-up comprehensively defeating compatriot Alex de Minaur in the Montreal Masters on Friday morning (AEST).
The Australian, currently sitting at No. 37 on the ATP rankings, topped his Davis Cup teammate in straight sets 6-2 6-3, securing victory in just 62 minutes.
Kyrgios was at his absolute best during the entertaining round of 16 contest, registering 22 winners and only nine unforced errors in front of a packed-out stadium.
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However, he carried on with constant backchat towards his players box, giving almost a running commentary of his state of mind on the court in a display that seems second nature to him.
Minaur’s World No. 21 hardly won a point in the opening four games, fighting back in the second set by breaking Kyrgios twice, but struggling to hold serve himself.
It was the first time Kyrgios and de Minaur had met in an ATP event.
“After yesterday’s big high, today was really hard mentally for me to go out and play Alex,” Kyrgios said.
“We’re such good friends, he’s been having such a good career and carrying the Australian flag for so long. It was just tough mentally, it’s never easy to play a friend like that especially if they’re an Australian so I just got out here and got the job done.
“I played the way I had to play — he’s a hell of a player. If you play to his strengths he’s one of the best players from the back (of the court) in the game and he’s so fast, he’s going to have a hell of a career.
Kyrgios will next face Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz in the quarter-finals. The pair faced off two months ago on grass, with Hurkacz the victor on that occasion.
This Montreal Masters campaign will give Kyrgios an important rankings boost ahead of the US Open, which gets underway on Monday August 29.
He is expected to climb 10 spots in the ATP rankings, and could crack the top 15 if he wins the Canadian tournament.
Fresh from winning the Citi Open title in Washington, Kyrgios came back from a set down to top world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev 6-7 6-4 6-2 on Thursday.
It’s the second time in his career he’s beaten a world No. 1 and he now boasts a 3-1 head-to-head record against Medvedev, the 2021 US Open champion.
Since landing in the United States for the American hard court swing a couple of weeks ago, Kyrgios is 16-0 across singles and doubles.
He has now won 15 of his past 16 singles matches, stretching back to his run into the Wimbledon final, which he lost to 21-time grand slam champion Novak Djokovic.
“It’s rewarding to beat the world No. 1,” Kyrgios told The Tennis Channel after the victory over Medvedev.
“It’s a reflection of all the hard work I’ve done in Sydney.
“After Washington I could easily come here and be content with what I did last week, but I wanted to empty the tank these two weeks.
“Obviously my ranking’s not where I want it to be, not getting those points at Wimbledon, but I’ve got to capitalize on this little window.”
Four-time grand slam champion Naomi Osaka retired from her opening match at the WTA Toronto Masters with lower back pain on Wednesday AEST, raising injury concerns with the US Open looming.
Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi advanced when Osaka retired trailing 7-6, 3-0.
Kanepi, a runner-up last week in Washington, needed 71 minutes on court as she broke three times before the Japanese star called it quits.
Defeat drove the emotional Osaka to tears.
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“I felt my back from the start of the match and despite trying to push through it, I just wasn’t able to today,” Osaka said.
“I’d like to pay credit to Kaia for playing well and want to wish her all the best for the rest of the tournament.”
Osaka has played only six matches with a 2-4 record since losing the Miami final in early April to world No. 1 Iga Swiatek.
Kanepi, 37, won their only prior meeting five years ago in three sets at the US Open.
“I tried to play my game and stay aggressive. It was a very tight match,” Kanepi said.
“I felt I needed a little more time to get used to new things, but after that I felt comfortable.”
Meanwhile, reigning US Open champion Emma Raducanu of Britain exited in the first round, losing 7-6, 6-2 to Italy’s Camila Giorgi.
Despite the setback in the city of her birth 19 years ago, Raducanu kept her spirits up as her US Open title defense draws nearer.
“It was a really good match, to be honest,” Raducanu said.
“The level was pretty high, especially in the first set.
“Camila’s a great opponent. She won this tournament last year. I just need to get better at dealing with players who play probably as quick as she does.”
Defending WTA Canadian champion Giorgi won a combative first set and ran away with the second against the 19-year-old Englishwoman, whose title defense in New York begins in less than three weeks.
The feisty Italian trailed by a break in both sets but showed her spirit by winning the last six games of the contest.
Giorgi needed just over an hour and three-quarters to advance to the second round over the ninth seed who broke into the top 10 ranking less than a month ago.
Raducanu had to hold on in a wild opening set, where serve was broken in six of the dozen games played.
The Briton saved a set point in the 12th game to bring on a tie-breaker, but collapsed to lose seven straight points as Giorgi took the set after 71 minutes.
Raducanu was broken three times in the second set as Giorgi finished off her victory.
Nick Kyrgios’ career-best run of form has prompted an inevitable debate around one big question — is he a legitimate contender to win the US Open?
The 27-year-old Australian made history by winning both the singles and doubles titles at the ATP event in Washington, a month after he reached his first grand slam final at Wimbledon.
Kyrgios’ ranking has jumped to 37 and a strong performance at next week’s Montreal Masters could clinch him an all-important seeding at the year’s final grand slam in New York, starting later this month.
The enigmatic Aussie caught many by surprise with his run at the All England Club and how he’s since backed up that performance has prompted discussion about whether Kyrgios may now be emerging as the grand slam force many have always thought he could become.
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Kyrgios wins hearts with gift for fan | 00:37
Former world No.1 Andy Roddick is among those who believe the hype is real when it comes to Kyrgios’ prospects at Flushing Meadows, where Wimbledon champion Nick Kyrgios and injury-riddle Rafael Nadal may be absent.
“It’s a big, big deal to me that he goes into Washington, which is a pretty big event in the lead-up to the US Open,” Roddick told Steve Weissman of Tennis Channel on The Rich Eisen Show.
“Brutal conditions….To go through singles and doubles and not to tap out mentally or physically is a big, big sign.
“I think it puts him into the top two, maybe three, favorites for the US Open.”
Stuart Fraser, writing for The Times, said many of Kyrgios’ rivals will be relieved he is on course to be seeded at the US Open — removing him as a nightmare early round potential opponent — and agreed Kyrgios was up as a legitimate force in the singles.
“Whether Kyrgios is seeded or not at the US Open, he will be considered a contender after showing at Wimbledon that he has what it takes to come through several consecutive matches in the extended best-of-five-set format,” Fraser said.
“A potential second-round meeting with Medvedev in Montreal this week would help to determine where exactly he will sit on the bookmakers’ list.”
Kokk downs veteran Verdasco in Mexico | 00:26
Tennis Podcast co-host Matt Roberts said Kyrgios’ Washington performance showed he was likely to build on his success at Wimbledon, rather than it being a flash in the pan.
“I know it’s the first time he’s won a title this season but he has been playing very well whenever he’s played and I do think, I go back a lot to that quote he gave, kind of jokingly, straight after Wimbledon but it was serious at the same time, where he said that if he’d won Wimbledon he might have lost his motivation,” Roberts said.
“I actually think that losing that final, in a way, is probably the best thing in terms of prolonging his career. I think he’s got a little bit of a taste for it now in terms of wanting to see what happens when he properly dedicates himself and really does put his mind to it.
“I think he wants to find out how good he can get. A week like this, he played players that were kind of comfortable for him I think. He’s still only beaten Tsitisapas as a top 10 player in this run. We haven’t really seen him play those absolute top players I suppose.
“I’m interested to see next week when he plays potentially Daniil Medvedev in potentially his second match in Canada.
“That would be a fantastic test for both of them. it’s kind of tough to judge just exactly where Kyrgios’ level is but — an unmotivated Kyrgios is a dangerous player. A motivated Kyrgios is a different thing altogether.”
Co-host David Law warned, however, that history was not on Kyrgios’ side when it came to going all the way at slams.
“I think he is playing the most professional, consistent tennis of his career. Whether that means anything we’ll have to wait and see,” Law said.
“… I still think, best of five sets where you don’t have the help of the surface, he is going to malfunction.
“He is going to get in his own way. Somebody is going to hang on in a match, players peak at grand slams. He’s going to play against players who are playing their best stuff at that tournament and he is going to come apart at the seams, most likely, because that is the history.
RAGE aplenty as Kyrgios wins tie-break | 02:07
James Gray, writing for iSport, agreed despite acknolwedging the Kyrgios hype train “might never have had such a head of steam up as it currently does”.
“Entertainment has never been Kyrgios’s problem: attainment has,” Gray wrote.
“Have you finally got over that hump? There are certainly results in his 2022 record to suggest he might have done, beating Stefanos Tsitsipas (twice), Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev, but his record against the top 20 in 2022 remains six wins and seven losses. For that kind of form to equal victory in New York, Kyrgios will need some help from the draw.
“He is likely to get some as well, since his world ranking will now almost certainly earn him a seeded spot, protecting him from the world’s top 30 players in the opening two rounds. And circumstance – injury to Alexander Zverev and the unvaccinated status of Novak Djokovic – will protect him from two of the top 10 for the duration of the tournament.”
Australia’s Nick Kyrgios and top seed Andrey Rublev each won twice on Friday (US time) to reach the semi-finals of the ATP and WTA Washington Open.
World number eight Rublev defeated 32nd-ranked Maxime Cressy 6-4, 7-6 (10/8) in one hour and 42 minutes then eliminated 99th-ranked wildcard JJ Wolf 6-2, 6-3 in 78 minutes.
“I didn’t spend much time in court,” Rublev said of his three-hour total. “That was the main key today.”
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Rain Thursday night forced double duty upon Rublev and several others but Friday storms provided everyone a timely rest break between matches.
Wimbledon runner-up Nick Kyrgios fired 35 aces on his way to beating hometown hero Frances Tiafoe 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (14/12), 6-2 and reaching the other semi-final against Sweden’s 115th- ranked Mikael Ymer.
Australia’s 63rd-ranked Kyrgios, who won the most recent of his six ATP titles at Washington in 2019, needed only 14 minutes to complete an early win over US fourth seed Reilly Opelka 7-6 (7/1), 6-2.
Kyrgios then outlasted 27th-ranked Tiafoe after two and a half hours, yelling, “I want to go to bed,” in the third set of a match that ended at 1 in the morning.
Tiafoe won the last five points of the first-set tiebreaker, the last on his sixth ace, and had four match points in the second-set tiebreaker.
But Kyrgios answered with an ace, backhand winner, forehand volley winner and service return winner and forced a third set when Tiafoe sent a forehand long.
Tiafoe, who won a third set earlier to defeat Dutch eighth seed Botic van de Zandschulp, hit a crosscourt forehand wide to hand Kyrgios a break to open the third set and missed a backhand to drop a break in the seventh before Kyrgios held to advance.
The Aussie hit 60 winners and saved five match points in all.
The Washington Post’s Ella Brockway tweeted: “This Kyrgios-Tiafoe match is absolutely bonkers.
“There are few things in sports quite like The Nick Kyrgios Experience.”
Kyrgios wins hearts with gift for fan | 00:37
Ymer, who lost his only ATP final last August at Winston-Salem, beat 54th-ranked American Sebastian Korda 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 after two hours and 27 minutes.
Rublev, whose only other two-win day was at Washington in 2018, rolled through the first set against Wolf in 28 minutes, then broke to lead 2-1 and cruised from there.
Next in Rublev’s path is Japan’s 96th-ranked Yoshihito Nishioka, who outlasted British 16th seed Daniel Evans 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 7-5 after three hours and 35 minutes.
“Rather than to spend two matches like me than one match like him,” Rublev said.
Nishioka improved to 5-0 all-time against the 40th-ranked Englishman in the rain-interrupted affair to reach his first ATP semi-final since 2020 at Delray Beach. His only ATP title came at Shenzhen in 2018.
“I never gave up and that’s the way I think I won,” Nishioka said. “I just focused on making a lot of balls and to play long rallies. I knew he didn’t want to because he was getting tired.”
Rublev seeks his 12th career crown and fourth title of the season after Marseilles, Dubai and Belgrade to match Spaniards Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz for the most ATP trophies this year.
Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi defeated Anna Kalinskaya 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-3 to reach a semi-final against Aussie Daria Saville, who beat Canadian qualifier Rebecca Marino 6-1, 7-5.
It’s Saville’s first semi-final since 2018 at Acapulco while Kanepi, her age and world rank at 37, seeks her fifth career WTA title but first since the 2013 Brussels Open.
World number 20 Victoria Azarenka, a two-time Australian Open champion, won her first match over Czech Tereza Martincova 7-6 (9/7), 6-2, but her double bid was spoiled by 21-year-old Chinese lucky loser Wang Xiyu.
Wang, seeking her first WTA title, rolled over 33-year-old Azarenka 6-1, 6-3. The 95th-ranked left-hander reached her first WTA semi-final in June at Valencia.
Wang next plays 60th-ranked Liudmila Samsonova, who upset 10th-ranked reigning US Open champion Emma Raducanu 7-6 (8/6), 6-1. The 19-year-old British second seed was seeking her first semi-final since her Grand Slam triumph,
Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic, whose refusal to be vaccinated against Covid-19 makes him unable to enter Canada, has officially withdrawn from the ATP hardcourt tournament in Montreal, organizers said on Thursday.
The Serbian star’s unvaccinated status made it unlikely he would play in the prestigious ATP Masters tournament, just as it means he will probably miss the US Open starting later in August as the United States also requires visitors to the country to show proof of vaccination.
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Earlier this month, Montreal Masters tournament director Eugene Lepierre said he did not expect Djokovic to play.
“Either the Canadian government is going to change the rules regarding vaccination or he is going to roll up his sleeves and get the vaccine. But I don’t think any of those scenarios are realistic,” Lepierre said.
Germany’s Oscar Otte has also withdrawn from the tournament which starts on Monday with Benjamin Bonzi of France and Australia’s Wimbledon runner-up Nick Kyrgios moving into the main draw, Tennis Canada said.
In addition, three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray was handed a wildcard on Thursday, along with Belgian David Goffin and Canadians Vasek Pospisil and Alexis Galarneau.
Britain’s Murray, a former world number one who won the Canadian title in 2009, 2010 and 2015, has been rising in the rankings this season from 134th to 50th.
He reached finals in Sydney in January and Stuttgart in June, but fell in the first round in Washington earlier this week to Sweden’s Mikael Ymer.
Despite that disappointment, Murray said on Monday he believes he can get his ranking high enough to earn a seeding at the US Open, which he won a decade ago.
“It’s still possible,” he said. “I would just need to have a good run in Canada or Cincinnati really. It’s pretty straightforward if I was to make a quarter-final or a semi-final, which right now – after a loss like that – doesn’t seem realistic.
“I do feel like if I play very well that I could do that. But I’ll certainly need to play better than I did today.”
Meanwhile, Kyrgios has continued his preparation for the last grand slam of the year with a strong win over Tommy Paul at the Washington Open on Thursday (AEST).
The Australian was challenged in just his second singles match since Wimbledon and had to play his best tennis to defeat Paul 6-3 6-4.
Kyrgios was locked in, firing off 15 aces including one rocket at 218km/h.
He was superb in the clutch moments — saving all four break points he faced and converting three out of four of his own break point opportunities.
Kyrgios was up to his usual antics when he got stuck into the umpire after he was given a code violation for ball abuse.
But the Washington crowd was in his corner and he showed his soft side in the first set, when an elderly fan was hit in the face by a ball that took a wayward bounce into the stands.
Kyrgios went over and handed the spectator one of his towels.
He is chasing his second title in Washington and will next face fourth seed Reilly Opelka in the round of 16 on Friday.
