Australian Open: match balls blocked! Kyrgios makes a duel against Dominic Thiem clear
Nick Kyrgios shook the John Cain Arena with his comeback win over Ugo Humbert - and fixed a third-round cracker against Dominic Thiem.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Feb 10, 2021, 01:41 pm
What a match - what a mood! And with the winner that Tennis Australia wanted: Nick Kyrgios is after a 5: 7, 6: 4, 3: 6, 7: 6 (2), 6: 4 over Ugo Humbert in round 3 of the Australian Open. Opponent there on Friday: Dominic Thiem.
Kyrgios was almost on the verge of losing: 1: 2 sets he was behind, 3: 5 in round four, he had to fend off two match balls. His forehand hammer at breakball to equalize 5: 5: typical Kyrgios. Followed by a 219 km / h surcharge for the second service to compensate for the set.
In set five he then managed the early break to 2: 1, which he could not miss.
Kyrgios: "Don't train so much"
"I don't know how I did it. Words fail me. This is definitely one of the craziest matches I've ever played," said Kyrgios afterwards. He went on to explain that he had some dark thoughts during the game. And perhaps the most important action, in set four, a strong pass ball at Humbert's second match point? "It was definitely not the training, I don't train that much."
The Australian Open will get the first big highlight match of the 2021 edition on Friday: Then Kyrgios will meet Dominic Thiem. In his triple set victory over Dominik Koepfer in the day session, he had offered a fantastic performance.
Kyrgios and Thiem have only met once so far, with no countable result: It was 2015, in Nice, at that time Kyrgios had given up injured in the first round.
Here is the men's single tableau
laver arena