By Zoran Horvat
No.4 seed Nick Kyrgios started his grass court campaign at the Stuttgart Open with a roller coaster 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, win over local favourite Maximilian Marterer.
The clash between the two in Stuttgart was a match without long rallies. Kyrgios was trying to go with every serve for a service winner, even on the second serve. At the end of the match he produced 20 aces and 6 double faults, winning 80% of his first-service points. In the first set only one break occurred. Although it was at the worst possible time for Marterer as he got broken whilst trailing 4-5 following an unforced error.
In the second set it was Kyrgios who found himself in the troubles, but he managed to save both break points with a service winner. At 4-4 he succumbed to the pressure being applied by Marterer, who took proceedings into a decider. Despite the scare, Kyrgios regained his lead in the decider. Capitalising on a mistake from his opponent to break for a lead to 4-2. That was enough of a margin to elevate the 23-year-old into the last eight of the tournament.
“Obviously I played terrible today. I served okay, that’s probably the only thing that kept me in the match.” Said Kyrgios.
“I felt positive, it was my first singles match in two months. Physically, I don’t feel great, (it was) my first match back, that was to be expected. Hopefully I feel better tomorrow, today it was pretty average.”
“The tournament is great and obviously I pleased to win my first match back. I’m taking the confidence out of it, it’s a lot to improve on, there’s a lot I can do better.” He later added.
In the last eight the Australian will take on Feliciano Lopez. The eighth seed edged his way past Gilles Simon 7-6(6), 6-4, in a tightly contested encounter. Initially, it was Frenchman Simon who started the better of the two with a break advantage as Lopez struggled to find his footing. Nevertheless, the Spaniard managed to claw his way back to level 3-3 before clinching the opening set tiebreaker. Then, during the second Lopez secured his second break of the match to seal the win in straight sets.
Raonic gets off to an impressive start
Former Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic was in fine form. It seems it was the right decision to skip the French Open tournament and put his concentration on the grass season where he had a lot of success in the past.
He needed just 21 minutes to take a 6-2 lead against Marton Fucsovics. Converting both break points that were offered. Meanwhile, Fucsovics made too many easy mistakes. In the second set Fucsovics played a little bit better, but again it was Raonic who took advantage of a break point at 2-2 with a low return on the backhand of Fucsovics. Going on to seal the 6-2, 6-4, victory in just 52 minutes thanks to some impressive serving. Raonic produced 19 aces and lost only 7 points on his serve.
“I’m happy with the play today.” Said Raonic. “I enjoy playing on grass, it’s my first time here at this tournament and so far it’s been a great experience.”
The Canadian world No.35 will next take on Tomas Berdych. The Czech dismissed Benoit Paire 7-6(3), 6-4, to reach his first quarter-final on the tour since February.
“It’s never easy in a first match after changing the surface, especially against an opponent like Benoit.” He said afterwards. “He already had a match yesterday, so I first needed some time to adapt to the court.
“I don’t want to talk to match about any expectations, I take it one by one and then we will see what comes out at the end.“
Raonic leads Berdych 5-3 in their head-to-head.
