Third seed Nick Kyrgios brushed aside a left knee injury during a hard fought 6-7(3), 7-6(5), 6-2, win over Matthew Ebden at the Brisbane International.
Alarm bells were ringing for Kyrgios’ camp during the opening set when he took a duo of injury time outs to treat a problem with his knee. The Australian was heard saying that he felt a ‘sharp pain’ behind his left knee as he moved gingerly during parts of the match. He also told the doctor ‘as soon as I straighten it, it’s a nightmare.’
“I haven’t been feeling anything coming into the tournament. A couple days ago I started to feel it and, you know, it’s a bit surprising.” Kyrgios said about his knee after the match.
“Obviously It’s still good enough to play and to play a tough competitor like Matty (Ebden) today.”
Despite the injury scare, Kyrgios’ movement improved substantially as the match progressed. The first two sets saw no breaks of serves with both players matching each other game-by-game. Kyrgios had four chances to break, but was denied by some gutsy play from world No.76 Ebden.
Fighting back from a set down to force proceedings into a decider, Kyrgios finally started to dictate play with the help of some heavy hitting. His first breakthrough occurred when a 13-shot rally concluded with a Ebden unforced error into the net, rewarding Kyrgios a break for 2-1. Firmly in control of the match, the world No.21 eased towards the finish line. Hitting a clean backhand passing shot to secure a double break and move to a game away from victory. The win was then sealed with ace No.13 from Kyrgios.
“I’m a bit rusty for the first match of the year.” Admitted Kyrgios.
“I played a great doubles match with Matt Reid yesterday and that gave me a lot of confidence (for today).” He added.
Overall, Kyrgios managed to win 85% of his first service points throughout the match. Hitting 49 winners to 34 unforced errors. He will next play Alexandr Dolgopolov in the quarterfinals. The Ukrainian experienced little difficulty during his 6-1, 6-2, thrashing of Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos.
“At the start of the year I’m keen to play, I have a lot of energy, and that’s why I’m flying on the court,” Dolgopolov said following his win.
Kyrgios currently leads Dolgopolov 1-0 in their head-to-head. Winning their only previous encounter in straight sets last year at the Cincinnati Masters.
