Melbourne, Jan 27 : Nick Kyrgios will contest his first-ever Grand Slam final alongside Thanasi Kokkinakis in an all-Aussie affair in the men’s doubles at the Australian Open, after beating No.3 seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos 7-6, 6-4 in the Rod Laver Arena, here on Thursday.
Kyrgios whipped up the crowd from the very first point, and then later shouted at one fan for calling out just before his service action.He then complained to English umpire James Keothavong: “You’re gonna keep letting them scream before I serve? It happened four times in that game.”
As is often the case in matches involving Kyrgios the mercurial Australian lost his cool with the umpire, this time over a net cord sensor.He then rebuked a fan for making a noise while he was in the serving motion.
Kyrgios was broken in that game and smashed his racquet on the court.But all was forgiven at the end as the Aussies defeated the Spanish/Argentine duo in one hour and 47 minutes.The two threw their racquets and fell to the court in an embrace after Kokkinakis took the first match point with a gorgeous forehand lob.
“I have played a lot of singles matches all over the world with great atmospheres but nothing beats this.This is insane,” Kyrgios said.
“It sounds stupid, but winning has been our second priority every time,” Kokkinakis told reporters.”We hope to have fun, enjoy ourselves, enjoy our time on the court.Hopefully, they (crowd) feel like they’ve paid good money to watch us.”
And it will be an all-Aussie final after Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell knocked out No.2 seeds Jason Salisbury and Rajeev Ram 6-3 7-6 on Wednesday.The Australian duo eliminated 10th seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski 3-6, 6-4, 7-6[10-6] to sneak into the semi-finals.
inj/bsk
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