Nick collars an easy win
NICK Kyrgios breezed through apparel and slow challenge controversies as easily as he dispatched 104th-ranked Frenchman Antoine Hoang yesterday to reach the third round of the US Open.
The 28th-seeded Australian blasted Hoang 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 to match his deepest US Open run and book a date with 43rdranked Andrey Rublev, who defeated Roger Federer at Cincinnati two weeks ago, to decide a berth in the last 16.
“He’s a young, fearless player who has been playing really well the last couple weeks,” Kyrgios said. “He plays big from both sides. He’s a great player.”
Kyrgios, 24, won their only meeting last year in Moscow, recalling, “It was an incredibly tough match”.
He had two minor issues in his match, the first over a collar inscription “Just Do You” that officials feared violated clothing rules, forcing him to fold down his collar.
“I think they thought it was a slogan, but it wasn’t,” Kyrgios said. “It wasn’t anything to do with a marketing thing. I think they must have read it wrong. I think they thought it said, ‘Just Do It’, like the slogan.
“It was a mix-up. It’s all cleared up now. I can wear that. I can wear the collar up.”
The second dispute came in the third set when he thought he won a point, heard umpire Nico Helwerth call the game and score, only to have it overturned on what he considered a video challenge made far too late.
“He called game, then my opponent challenged once the umpire called game,” Kyrgios said. “I just thought that wasn’t right.”
After arguing to no avail, he smacked a service winner to settle the matter and seize a 5-3 lead, then made an exaggerated squat and jump motion to look at the chair and his rival, then gave the umpire one more look after walking away, to make sure the game was truly over.
Kyrgios, who won titles this year in Acapulco and Washington, has an open draw quarter after three top-10 players lost in the first round.
Meanwhile, fellow Australian Alexei Popyrin has shown he has the heart to go with the firepower in matching his career-best grand slam run with a stirring second-round win in New York yesterday.
The just-turned 20-year-old fought back from a set and a break down to defeat seasoned Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin 2-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 and set up a showdown with big-hitting Italian Matteo Berrettini.
“I’ve always had the fight in me since I was a kid, ever since I started playing tennis,” Popyrin said. “I love playing tennis and I love the fight. That’s one of the main reasons why I love the sport.”