World junior No.4 Nick Kygrios will renew acquaintances with former doubles partner Jordan Thompson when Canberra Velocity plays the National Academy AUStars at the National Sports Club at Lyneham on Saturday.
The pair reached the US Open junior doubles final together in September but will be on the opposite side of the court in the third round of the Asia-Pacific Tennis League.
“Jordan and I have played many times over the years and it’s always tough. I’m sure this weekend’s match will be no exception,” Kygrios said.
Thompson, the world junior No.25, will be supported by another of Kygrios’s arch rivals Jay Andrijic, and Jake Delaney.
Kygrios, who has had a stellar year on court, is hoping to help the men’s team notch up its first win of the new domestic competition after its loss to the ATP Sydney team on Tuesday night.
“It was a tough night, but we are confident we can rebound strongly on Saturday.”
Canberra Velocity’s women’s team is looking to continue its winning form against the National Academy NSW AUStars, led by Abbie Myers, in the first home tie of the round robin competition.
Aggressive baseliner Nicole Hoynaski says she expects the team to improve on a nervous performance on Tuesday night.
“I was so nervous,” Hoynaski said.
“We all were. We are so used to playing for ourselves, and we didn’t want to let the team down.”|
The women’s team completed a clean sweep against the lower-ranked City Community Tennis outfit in its first match of the competition on Tuesday night.
Hoynaski said she hoped for a similar result on Saturday.
“We are feeling confident but it will be definitely be a challenge to play some of the younger players who we don’t know much about,” she said.
The aggressive baseliner said it took a lot of time to get used to the abbreviated format (best of three sets, first to four games).
“It’s challenging. It’s easy to feel under pressure to come out strong quickly. It definitely took me a while to adapt on Tuesday night.”
In a double header, Velocity meets National Academy NSW AUStars on Saturday before playing the Hunter Raworth Tigers (men) and NSTA Avengers (women) at Lyneham on Sunday.
All matches start at 2pm.
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