Fourth challenge: the Australian has won two and can be dangerous on this surface. And their relationship …
Make yourself comfortable: in the second round of the tournament on the Halle grass there will be a challenge not to be missed. Stefanos Tsitsipas – seeded number 2 – faces Nick Kyrgios: for the winner there will be one between Carreno Busta and Korda. A particular story, the one between the Greek and the Australian: the two are linked by a strong friendship, which began in 2014 (“From time to time he calls me with FaceTime, in the most unlikely moments. Sometimes at one in the morning, I don’t understand ”, Tsitsipas admitted in the past), but it happened that they got caught on social media. Like when, last July, Kyrgios had criticized the Greek’s opinion (“I usually don’t contest his ideas, but this is really terrible”) regarding the need to allow coaching during matches. Frecciatona of Tsitsipas: “I’ll take you a coach, don’t worry.”
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Tsitsipas and Kyrgios met a few times: three. And in the most varied contexts. The balance is two wins to one in favor of Nick, who prevailed in the first two matches: in 2019 in the semifinals in Washington (6-4 3-6 7-6, with a match-point canceled) and in 2020 in the ATP Cup groups, in another extremely hard-fought match (7-6 6-7 7-6). Stefanos’ only victory came in the last match between the two, staged in the Laver Cup (the exhibition tournament between Europe and the rest of the world, which this year will have Federer and Nadal as protagonists – barring surprises – ): 6-3 6-4 for Tsitsipas in 2021.
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The challenge between the two will also be a juxtaposition of styles and characteristics. The ranking is clearly on Tsitsipas’ side – number 6 in the world, Kyrgios is 65 – but the Australian is a more effective player on grass: 63.6% of wins on this surface, while the Greek has only won nine games on 19 in career (47.4%). Stefanos suffered to overcome the first round, against Benjamin Bonzi: 7-6 1-6 6-3 after the defeat in the quarter-finals in Stuttgart against Murray, an opponent against whom Kyrgios lost (also the head) in the semifinals in the tournament then won by Berrettini. The Australian made his debut in Halle by beating Daniel Altmaier in two sets.
June 14 – 7:05 pm
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