Three strikes, all Aussies out
AUSTRALIA’S two highestranked players, Alex de Minaur and Nick Kyrgios, have been knocked out in the second round of the ATP Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells, California.
Kyrgios was favourite to advance from his meeting with Philipp Kohlschreiber but the German veteran proved too consistent as he broke the 31st seed once in each set to prevail 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 14 minutes.
De Minaur, who like Kyrgios had a first-round bye, was upset by world No.217 Marcos Giron. De Minaur scorched through the first set but American qualifier Giron swung the momentum his way against the 23-seeded Australian to prevail 1-6, 6-4, 6-2. Playing in just his fourth ATP tournament, southern Californian Giron claimed just the third, and biggest, tourlevel win of his career against the 20-year-old de Minaur.
And in the women’s draw, Ajla Tomljanovic was also eliminated in the second round by ninth-seeded Aryna Sabalenka.
Australian world No.44 Tomljanovic fought back from a set down to take the match to a deciding set, but Belarusian Sabalenka proved too strong to close out the encounter 6-3, 4-6, 6-0.
In the Kyrgios match, a keenly fought opening set went the way of Kohlschreiber after a slip by Kyrgios, who had kept his emotions in check, cost him a chance to break serve in the 10th game.
The incident resulted in Kyrgios trashing his racquet in frustration as he complained to his team about wearing “sample” shoes, which he changed out of at the end of the set and threw into the crowd. Kohlschreiber broke to lead 3-2 in the second set at which point Kyrgios, already one of the fastest players on tour, proceeded to increase his pace of play with one service game taking just 38 seconds.
Angelique Kerber dropped just two games as she eased through to the third round with a comfortable 6-0, 6-2 victory over Kazakhstan’s Yulia Puntintseva in 63 minutes. Reigning Wimbledon champion and eighth seed Kerber broke serve to open the match on her way to winning the first 10 games in a row.
Kerber, who won 93 per cent of points on first serve, meets Natalia Vikhlyantseva next after the Russian surprised Spain’s 26th seed Carla Suarez-Navarro 6-2, 6-0.