Knee injury keeping a distraught Kyrgios out
MELBOURNE, Australia — A “devastated” Nick Kyrgios pulled out of the Australian Open on Monday — the day before he was scheduled to play his firstround singles match — because of an injured left knee that needs arthroscopic surgery.
Kyrgios, a 27-year-old from Australia, was the runner-up to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon last year in singles and teamed with good friend Thanasi Kokkinakis to capture the men’s doubles championship at the 2022 Australian Open.
Kyrgios was considered the host country’s strongest chance to win a title at Melbourne Park this year. No man from Australia has won the singles trophy there since 1976.
“Just bad timing, but that’s life,” said a downcast Kyrgios, who occasionally lowered his head or covered his face with a hand during a news conference at Melbourne Park alongside his physical therapist, Will Maher. “Injury is a part of the sport.”
Kyrgios announced his withdrawal on Day 1 of action at the year’s first Grand Slam tournament.
“I’m just exhausted from everything. Obviously pretty brutal,” Kyrgios said of the decision to sit out. “One of the most important tournaments of my career. Hasn’t been easy at all.”
He was seeded 19th in Melbourne and was supposed to face Roman Safiullin in the first round Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Americans Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff and Danielle Collins reached the second round in contrasting fashion Monday.
The third-seeded Pegula overwhelmed Jaqueline Cristian of Romania 6-0, 6-1, while the seventh-seeded Gauff overcame a secondset wobble to beat Katerina Siniakova 6-1, 6-4.
Collins, the runner-up last year to Ash Barty and seeded 13th, battled a left knee injury while defeating Anna Kalinskaya 7-5, 5-7, 6-4.
Pegula and Gauff could meet in the semifinals, while Collins could play No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the fourth round.
A quarterfinalist in Melbourne in each of the last two years, Pegula needed just 59 minutes to get past the 161st-ranked Cristian, who was appearing in her third Grand Slam event.
“Today is just one of those days everything was working,” said the American, who will play Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the second round.
Gauff, who reached her first Grand Slam singles final at the French Open last year, dominated Siniakova in the first set. The Czech player led 4-2 in the second set, but Gauff rallied and clinched victory on her seventh match point.
Gauff will play former U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu after the British player shrugged off a left ankle issue to beat Tamara Korpatsch of Germany 6-3, 6-2.
Another former U.S. Open champion, Bianca Andreescu, advanced to the second round.
Former UCLA standout Mackie McDonald beat Brandon Nakashima of San Diego in five sets in the first round.