Kyrgios and Kokkinakis keep hopes alive at ATP Finals
Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis have scored their first round-robin win at the season-ending ATP Finals at Turin.
Turin, Italy, 17 November 2022 | Leigh Rogers
Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis have staged an impressive comeback to defeat Croatian Ivan Dodig and American Austin Krajicek at the ATP Finals in Turin.
The reigning Australian Open champions lost the opening set of the round-robin encounter, but bounced back strongly to claim a 3-6 6-4 [10-6] victory.
World No.8 Dodig and world No.9 Krajicek entered the tournament in red-hot form, having won 14 of their past 16 matches. The duo have won three titles from seven finals appearances this season.
But Kyrgios and Kokkinakis made the most of their chances against the Roland Garros finalists in today’s showdown, winning the only break point they earned in the 80-minute clash.
The Aussies fell behind 1-5 in the match tiebreak, but then reeled off nine of the next 10 points to secure a memorable victory.
“I was thinking to myself, ‘If we lose today, we are out of the whole event, so I am going to go out and there and do what I can do’,” said Kyrgios.
“We are the pair that is able to do that pretty much every time we play, so why don’t we use that to our advantage. The crowd was amazing and they got us over the line.”
That winning moment!@NickKyrgios x @Tkokkinakis#NittoATPFinals pic.twitter.com/jJay8lB6zY
— ATP Tour (@atptour) November 16, 2022
The Special K’s are set to face Croatian duo Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, who they defeated in a heated second-round match during their title-winning run at Australian Open 2022, in their final round-robin match on Friday.
Kyrgios and Kokkinakis need to defeat the Wimbledon 2022 finalists, who are unbeaten so far this week, to keep their hopes alive of progressing to the semifinals.
| ATP Finals – Red group current standings | ||
| Team | Win-loss record | |
| 1 | [4] Nikola Mektic (CRO)/Mate Pavic (CRO) | 2-0 |
| 2 | [1] Wesley Koolhof (NED)/Neal Skupski (GBR) | 1-1 |
| 3 | [8] Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS)/Nick Kyrgios (AUS) | 1-1 |
| 4 | [5] Ivan Dodig (CRO)/Austin Krajicek (USA) | 0-2 |
Aussies in action – ATP Finals
RESULTS
Men’s doubles, round robin
[8] Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS)/Nick Kyrgios (AUS) d [5] Ivan Dodig (CRO)/Austin Krajicek (USA) 3-6 6-4 [10-6]
COMING UP
Men’s doubles, round robin
[8] Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS)/Nick Kyrgios (AUS) v [4] Nikola Mektic (CRO)/Mate Pavic (CRO)
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