Nick Kyrgios has got off to a winning start at the Tokyo Open by defeating America’s Ryan Harrison 7-5, 6-2, in the first round.
The Australian sixth seed was relentless on his serve throughout the encounter as he fired 14 aces down the line and didn’t face a single break point. In both sets Kyrgios managed to shine at the crucial stages. During the opening set he secured the breakthrough in the 11th game by breaking Harrison for a 6-5 lead. A similar trend followed in the second set as the rapidly faltering American allowed Kyrgios to grab back-to-back breaks to seal the win.
“My serve is obviously a big weapon. It gets me out of trouble when I’m not feeling so great and it’s always a part of my game that I can rely on to win matches,” Kyrgios said following his first round win. “I just think that I can’t miss the same serve twice, so why not go after it on the second serve [too]?”
During the match, there was a brief delay due to a member of the crowd feeling unwell. When Kyrgios realised what was going on, he displayed his soft side by handing the member of the crowd a bottle of water.
Nick Kyrgios tossed water into stands for person who fell ill during his Japan Open 1R. A decent thing to do. pic.twitter.com/K9n9JBqwdA
— TroubleFault (@troublefault) 4 October 2016
Kyrgios’ triumph has booked him a second round showdown with Czech veteran Radek Stepanek. Stepanek, who won two rounds of qualifying over the weekend, crushed France’s Stephane Robert 6-2, 6-1, in just over an hour.
Fifth seed David Goffin was given a stern test during his 7-5, 6-2, win over Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka. The Belgian dropped his serve twice during the early stages, but still managed to close the match out in straight sets. Goffin had 16 break point opportunities throughout his encounter with Nishioka, but could only capitalized on five on them.
Awaiting Goffin in the next round will be Jiri Vesely, who recovered from a set down to defeat former top 10 player Kevin Anderson 3-6, 6-4, 6-0. It will be the first meeting between the two players on the tour.
Gilles Simon has placed himself on course for a potential second round showdown with second seed Gael Monfils after outlasting Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-5, 4-6, 6-0. Monfils will play Yuichi Sugita in his first round match.
Finally, there was disappointment for Spain’s Feliciano Lopez after he was forced to retire in the third set against James Duckworth. It is unclear as to the exact reason why he retired. Duckworth will now play Argentina’s Juan Monaco.
