Kyrgios warms up for French Open with doubles win
Nick Kyrgios' limited Roland Garros preparation received a boost as he claimed the Lyon doubles title with Jack Sock.
Lyon, France, 27 May 2018 | AAP
Nick Kyrgios has rounded out his very limited French Open preparation with a breakthrough doubles triumph in Lyon.
Kyrgios, who faces fellow Australian Bernard Tomic in a marquee first-round match up in Paris on Monday, teamed with American Jack Sock to land his maiden ATP doubles crown in Lyon.
Sock and Kyrgios edged out Czech Roman Jebavy and Dutchman Matwe Middelkoop 7-5 2-6 11-9 in a deciding match tiebreak on Saturday.
The top-ranked Australian man is seeded 21st for the Roland Garros Grand Slam but remains under a fitness cloud having not played singles in six weeks due to an elbow injury.
“I’m making good progress. I’ve got to take it slow,” Kyrgios said. “I haven’t completed by rehab yet. I’m about 80 per cent.
“So it’s been a good week, good preparation and I’m just happy to be healthy and to obviously win the title with Jack.”
Kyrgios and Tomic are scheduled to square off for the first time in their professional careers.
Tomic is riding a seven-match claycourt winning streak after successfully qualifying in Paris with three impressive straight-set wins.
Countryman John Millman, the only player to topple Tomic in the past month and who also beat Kyrgios at last year’s US Open, can’t tip a winner of the all-Australian Open showdown.
But he admits it will be must viewing.
“Bernie did a really good job qualifying. It’s not easy to qualify here at Roland Garros. I’ve never done it so great work from him,” Millman said on Saturday.
“It will be an interesting match. I don’t know how Nick’s tracking right now. I saw him briefly in Lyon where he’s just playing doubles obviously. He’s had a pretty light schedule.
“So it will be interesting to see if he’s 100 per cent fit and ready to go for that one.”
Millman is also unsure who Australian fans will be supporting in the intriguing clash.
“It will be an interesting one for everyone to watch, not just for guys back home but everyone here’s interested to see how that one goes and I know I’ll be watching the TV if I’m not playing.”