World Tennis League: Kyrgios is defeated by Djokovic substitute Dimitrov
Grigor Dimitrov beat Nick Kyrgios 7: 6 (5) and 6: 3 as a substitute for Novak Djokovic on the third day of the World Tennis League in Dubai.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Dec 21, 2022, 07:55 pm
Nick Kyrgios against Novak Djokovic, that would actually have been the hit of the day at the World Tennis League in Dubai. But there was no repeat of the Wimbledon final from this summer, Djokovic was unable to play one day after his defeat against Alexander Zverev. And so Grigor Dimitrov stepped in for Djokovic in the Falcons team - and won against Kyrgios 7: 6 (5) and 6: 3.
A few hours earlier, Dimitrov had opened the afternoon at the exhibition team event alongside Aryna Sabalenka. With a win over Rohan Bopanna and Bianca Andreescu, who appears to be only allowed to play doubles in Dubai this week (on day one, the 2019 US Open winner had successfully done so alongside Kyrgios against Holger Rune and Eugenie Bouchard). In the women's singles of Wednesday's match, Caroline Garcia won 6:4 and 6:3 against Paula Badosa.
Thiem vs Rune
The de Hawks team will be back in action tomorrow, Thursday, and with it Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem. Zverev is allowed to play in mixed doubles this time, he tries together with Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina on Félix Auger-Aliassime and Eugenie Bouchard.
After that, Dominic Thiem has to deal with a man who caused a sensation in the past season: Holger Rune. The young Dane should become a real indicator for Thiem, who wants to open his official season at the heavily occupied ATP Tour 250 tournament in Adelaide.