Kyrgios overcomes back spasms to win Citi Open
Saisai captures 1st singles title at San Jose
WASHINGTON, Aug 5, (Agencies): Nick Kyrgios overcame early back spasms to get the better of Russia’s Daniil Medvedev in a pair of tiebreakers and win the Citi Open.
The Australian won 7-6(6), 7-6(4) over a frustrated world number nine Medvedev for his sixth career ATP Tour victory. Kyrgios did not face a single break point and hit 18 aces, including two to close out the final.
“It’s great to get the win, but I proved to myself and a lot of people backing me that I still have it and can produce at the highest level,” said Kyrgios, who defeated the tournament’s number one seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in Saturday’s semi-final.
“This week is probably one of the best weeks of my life in tennis,” the 24-year-old said.
Kyrgios, mixing baseline rallies with drop shots, came from 4-1 down in the opening tiebreak to win it and took a medical time-out after the set, which seemed to help relieve the back spasms that had him stretching on the court during changeovers.
“I had some back spasms on the right side of my back,” the Australian said. “I haven’t played that much tennis in the last couple of months so this week the load has been pretty stressful.”
The tension of the match no doubt added to the stress.
“We got very lucky to get out of the first set,” Kyrgios said. “It was 5-2 and I got pretty lucky on some of those points. It could have easily him standing in this position.”
He still had trouble with Medvedev’s serve, the Russian winning 80% of his service points for the match.
Kyrgios eventually tied the second set at 6-6 and claimed the victory, his second of the year, in another tiebreak.
Before serving for the win, the Australian, as he had done twice previously in the match, went to a spectator to consult on where to serve.
Kyrgios then delivered a rocket for the win and fell on his back in relief.
In San Jose, California, Zheng Saisai of China used steady, looping groundstrokes and patience to capture her first career singles title, beating Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 6-3, 7-6(3) in the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic.
Saisai, who is ranked 55th and played one more match than Sabalenka to reach Sunday’s championship, topped three seeded players on the way to her second career final and first victory at age 25. She was runner-up at Nanchang last year.
With her big topspin shots landing deep and the defensive ability to chase down balls all over the court, Zheng flustered opponents all week with her consistency and level-headed play – and the emotional Sabalenka was no different. She threw her racket after double-faulting on the first match point, slammed her racket to the court at one point and also hit it on the net in frustration in an afternoon of unforced errors after the 21-year-old missed on a fourth career title. The second-seeded Sabalenka, who lost in the first round of qualifying here in 2018, rode her powerful first serve to reach to her seventh final and is projected to match her career-high ranking of ninth.
Her power was neutralized by Zheng’s regular topspin shots and digs to keep long rallies alive.
Zheng’s victory could propel her to No. 38 – matching her career best – when Monday’s new singles rankings are released.
The two met once previously, with Zheng winning in straight sets on the ITF circuit in 2017. Each woman had played one three-set match this week.
Venus Williams lost her opening match Tuesday night after reaching last year’s quarter-finals here. The 39-year-old, seven-time Grand Slam champion was in the field for the 15th time, this year as a wild-card entry.