Kyrgios captures biggest title of career
Wildcard Nick Kyrgios won his first ATP Challenger title at the Nature’s Way Sydney Tennis International at Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre on Sunday.
Sydney, Australia, 3 March 2013 | Tennis Australia
Young gun Nick Kyrgios (Watson, ACT) won his first ATP Challenger title at the Nature’s Way Sydney Tennis International at Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre on Sunday.
The 17-year-old Canberra local posted a 6-3 6-2 win over New South Welshman Matt Reid (Dural, NSW) to win the $50,000 event and secure the biggest win in his career to date.
The victory comes less than six weeks after winning his first junior Grand Slam singles title over South Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis (Seacombe Heights, SA) at the Australian Open Junior Championships in January.
“It’s an amazing achievement for me,” said Kyrgios after the match.
“Not many people have won a Challenger at 17 but that’s what you work hard for and hopefully I can do it again in the future.
“I knew I was playing some great tennis but I wasn’t really thinking at the start of the week that I was going to win this tournament, I just wanted to get out there and play.
“I think my serve was one of my big strengths in the match. It got me over the line today and through the week.”
Kyrgios, a wildcard into the tournament, defeated a number of higher-ranked opponents on his way to the final including No.6 seed Brydan Klein (WA) and Ivo Klec (SVK) before overcoming Greg Jones (Manly, NSW) and later the No.5 seed Stephane Robert (FRA) in the semis.
Kyrgios played the semi earlier on Sunday morning after wet weather postponed play on Saturday.
The current world No.559 will see his ranking climb considerably having already risen over 280 spots since the start of the year.
Kyrgios and partner Alex Bolt (Murray Bridge, SA) are currently on court contesting the men’s doubles final against [1] Klein and Dane Propoggia (East Lakes, NSW).
In the women’s event, China’s [7] Yafan Wang defeated top seed Misa Eguchi (JPN) 6-2 6-0 to win her second ITF career title.