Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios suggests he is approaching a match point as any other point and that’s one of the reasons why he was able to stay calm when down five match points versus Frances Tiafoe. In the Washington quarterfinal, Kyrgios saved a total of match points to edge out Tiafoe 6-7 (5) 7-6 (12) 6-1.
After the match, Kyrgios was asked how he was able to save a total of five match points versus Tiafoe. “Yeah, look, I don’t even think about it as match point or not. At the end of the day, if I lose, I lose. I’m going to shake that person’s hand and say, ‘Too good.’
That’s all I did. I put myself in a position to stay in the match, and I felt, my experience, he was getting the crowd up and involved early on. I wasted a little bit of energy early,” Kyrgios said, per Sportskeeda.
Kyrgios survived the Tiafoe challenge
In the first set tie-break, Kyrgios had a 5-2 lead, before Tiafoe won the next five points to steal the first set from the Australian. After winning the first set via a tie-break, Tiafoe had five match points in the second set tie-break to close out the match with a tight two-set win.
But Kyrgios had other plans as the Australian saved all of those match points, before realizing his fourth set point to send the match into a decider. Tiafoe never recovered from losing the second set as Kyrgios broke the American twice in the third set to complete a big comeback win.
Those two breaks were the only breaks of serve seen during the match. “It’s tough conditions out here. You lose a lot of fluids out here, and my serve towards the end kicked up to another gear. I felt like I had fresh legs at the end. Serving 130 in these conditions is pretty helpful. I’m really happy where I’m at,” Kyrgios added.
