Tennis: Murray wins Stuttgart opener as Kyrgios finds his feet - and shoes

STUTTGART, Germany -- Andy Murray won his first match at the ATP event in Stuttgart on Tuesday, while Nick Kyrgios made a triumphant return after sitting out the European clay-court season.

Murray overcame a slow first-round start on grass as he defeated Christopher O'Connell 6-4, 6-3 and Kyrgios dominated Czech youngster Jiri Lehecka 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.

The colourful Australian barely had enough gear to make it onto court, with his tennis bag showing up on Monday while his all-important grass shoes only arrived at the tournament site with an hour to spare before his match.

"I had to play doubles in clay-court shoes yesterday," said Kyrgios, who has partnered up with Alexander Bublik. "I had to deal with a bit of adversity.

"Today was the first time I wore grass-court shoes.

"I didn't have the best preparation for here. I did hit on grass back in Australia, but there is nothing like a match.

"I've never needed match play to perform, I know what I have to do to win."

Former world number one Murray, now ranked 68th, is back in his element on the grass and can hardly compare his current confidence with his low point of a year ago.

"It feels completely different," the 35-year-old said after his victory 116th-ranked Australian qualifier O'Connell.

"Last year I was barely training before Queen's and when I was training I was not moving well.

"I also entered Queen's at the last minute, had an issue with a nerve in my leg and just didn't feel great."

But that unfortunate situation is now well in the past for the three-time Grand Slam champion.

"This year I've trained three weeks on grass and had good sessions," the Stuttgart debutant said.

"I've had some good matches (last week in Surbiton) and a good build-up for Wimbledon."

Murray delivered seven aces at the Weissenhof Club - whose grass was originally curated by Wimbledon groundsmen - and broke his opponent four times.

"I'm very motivated right now," said Murray. "That comes from loving the sport. You have to be willing to play through some pain.

"But it's a lot easier to do that when you are competing for major titles."

Top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who begins play Thursday after a bye, is determined to improve his grass-court standing after losing in the Wimbledon first round in three of four visits.

"I'm not where I want to be on the surface. But I have the right intentions - I'm fully present and committed to my job on court," the world number five said.

"I'm trying to get as many points as possible from each surface. I got a lot of clay points this spring (Monte Carlo title defence and Rome final) and I want to try and do the same on grass."

Tsitsipas starts against Swiss qualifier Dominic Stricker, the 2020 French Open junior champion who defeated American Maxime Cressy 6-7 (2/7), 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/2). 

Agence France-Presse

Rafael Nadal tumbles out of Mexican Open, falling to Nick Kyrgios

ACAPULCO, Mexico — Rafael Nadal tumbled out of the Mexican Open on Wednesday night, squandering three match points in a 3-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (6) loss to Australia’s Nick Kyrgios.

Playing his first event since losing to Novak Djokovic in late January in the Australian Open final, the top-seeded Nadal dropped the first two match points on Kyrgios’ serve and the last one on his own first serve.

Nadal won in Acapulco in 2005 and 2013. On Tuesday night, the second-ranked Spanish star opened play with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Mischa Zverev.

Kyrgios set up a quarterfinal match against Stan Wawrinka, a 7-6 (5), 6-4 winner over seventh-seeded Steve Johnson in the hardcourt event at The Princess Mundo Imperial.

The top seed also fell in the women’s event, with Brazilian qualifier Beatriz Haddad Maia beating Sloane Stephens 6-3, 6-3 for her first victory in seven career matches against players ranked in the top 10. The fourth-ranked Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open, was making her first appearance in the event since winning the 2016 title.

“It was just a tough match, obviously she played well,” Stephens said. “A tough day. But I’m not too sad about it. I’m just going to go back and work some more, practice some more and get ready for Indian Wells.”

Haddad Maia will face Wang Yafan in the quarterfinals. Wang led Monica Puig 4-1 when Puig retired because of an injury.

In men’s play, second-seeded Alexander Zverev beat David Ferrer 7-6 (0), 6-1 in the late match. He will play fifth-seeded Alex de Minaur, a winner over Feliciano Lopez in a walkover.

Third-seeded John Isner beat fellow American Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-4 to set up a quarterfinal match against eighth-seeded John Millman. Millman beat Peter Gojowczyk 6-0, 6-2.

Cameron Norrie beat fourth-seeded Diego Schwartzman 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-3. Norrie will face Mackenzie McDonald, a 6-7 (7), 7-5, 6-3 winner over sixth-seeded Frances Tiafoe.

Defending champion Juan Martin del Potro is sidelined by a knee injury.

In women’s play, two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka routed Tatjana Maria 6-2, 6-1 to set up a quarterfinal against fifth-seeded Sofia Kenin. Kenin led 6-4, 4-1 when Katie Boulter retired.

Third-seeded Donna Vekic advanced with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Christina McHale; Bianca Andreescu topped fourth-seeded Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-2, 7-5; seventh-seeded Saisai Zheng edged Timea Babos 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; and eighth-seeded Johanna Konta beat Varvara Flink 6-4, 6-1.

In the quarterfinals, Vekic will play Konta, and Zheng will meet Andreescu.

Lesia Tsurenko, the women’s winner the last two years, is skipping the event.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Kyrgios beats Cilic at Open 13 to win 1st title

MARSEILLE, France — Big-serving Nick Kyrgios won his first career title with a 6-2, 7-6 (3) victory over fourth-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia in the Open 13 final on Sunday.

Kyrgios closed out the match with his 17th ace to cap a dream week for the 20-year-old Australian, who didn’t lose a set and was unbroken in 47 games. Ranked 41st, he beat two top-10 players in No. 10 Richard Gasquet and No. 8 Tomas Berdych.

It was only Kyrgios’ second tournament of the year. He lost to Berdych in the third round of the Australian Open in January and was forced to withdraw from Rotterdam last week with an elbow injury.

“I didn’t really expect to win this title this week after having a couple of weeks off,” said Kyrgios, who lost his only previous final on outdoor clay last year in Estoril, Portugal. “But from the first round I started playing really well and just gained confidence as I kept winning matches.

“I think I served really, really well again. I was serving really well all week. I didn’t get broken once. That was the main thing that was good. And I was able to put pressure on my opponents’ serves a lot when I was going through my service games really quickly.”

The popular Krygios ended his victory speech with a few words of French, declaring to his fans “I really like cheese.”

Kyrgios had Cilic under pressure from the start and converted his eighth break point to go 3-1 up in the first set and never looked back, securing a second break in the seventh game before serving out the set to love.

Cilic fought back in the second set and almost leveled the match in the 10th game but Kyrgios saved the only break point he faced in the contest with a 201 kph (125 mph) ace.

“I felt I was getting much closer in that second set,” Cilic said. “I felt also that he was becoming a bit more frustrated, which was good for me. I had a chance at the end of the second set to get the break, but he managed to play well … I didn’t adjust well enough on the balls that were coming back.”

source: sports.inquirer.net