Kyrgios storms off court
Volatile Australian calls it quits in Shanghai, days after Beijing meltdown
AUSTRALIAN firebrand Nick Kyrgios stormed off court to loud boos midway through his opening match at the Shanghai Masters yesterday, two days after his China Open final meltdown.
The 22-year-old abruptly called it quits immediately after losing the first set 7/5 on a tie break to American Steve Johnson, having been docked a point for the second match running.
On Sunday, Kyrgios was similarly hit with a point penalty and had a running row with the umpire in losing the final in Beijing to Rafael Nadal.
A member of Kyrgios’s team said the world-ranked No 21 had injured his shoulder and the temperamental Australian did look in discomfort early on in the match against the unseeded Johnson.
Kyrgios seemed untroubled, however, by the injury when they entered the firstset tie break, but as happened in the final in Beijing, his temper soon got the better of him after he was angered by the unsettled crowd.
Johnson, the umpire and the spectators on the outside hard court looked on in stunned disbelief when Kyrgios decided enough was enough.
It is just the latest on-court controversy for Kyrgios, whose undoubted talent has often been betrayed by his quickfire temper. Meanwhile, Venus Williams raced through her opening match in the WTA Hong Open yesterday with a 6-2 6-2 win against Risa Ozaki.
The world No 5 took just 74 minutes to see off Japan’s Ozaki in hot and humid conditions in Victoria Park.
It was an ideal way for Williams to shake off any rust in her first match since losing to Sloane Stephens in the US Open semifinal a month ago.
Williams punctuated the performance with some trademark power winners and sent down seven aces to overwhelm the world No 95 in just 74 minutes.
Williams, 37, but seemingly ageless, has enjoyed a magnificent season, reaching two grand slam finals to qualify for the WTA Tour Finals in Singapore for the first time since 2009. But Williams said she could not afford to think about the season-ending event in Singapore, which begins in just under two weeks.
“There’s a lot of depth in this draw and I’m going to have to work my way through this,” she said.
The second seed faces another Japanese opponent in Naomi Osaka in the second round.
Osaka overcame Chilean qualifier Alexa Guarachi 7-5 6-4 in their first-round encounter yesterday.
World No 19 Elena Vesnina, of Russia, became the first seed to crash out when she was stunned 6-3 6-4 by Thailand’s world No 130 Luksika Kumkhum.
Kumkhum ousted the fifth seed in just 69 minutes and will face China’s Wang Qiang in the second round.
Fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska swept past China wildcard Zhang Ling 6-1 6-2 to set up a second-round meeting with former US Open champion Sam Stosur.
Australian seventh seed Daria Gavrilova set up a match against Shelby Rogers, of the US, in the second round after coming through in straight sets against qualifier Miyu Kato of Japan 6-1 7-6 (7/4).