Marinko Matosevic has prevailed in a hard fought, all-Australian encounter against rising star Nick Kyrgios at the Malaysian Open on Tuesday night while Casey Dellacqua collected a win at the Wuhan Open in China.
In the first ever matchup between the pair, Matosevic edged Kyrios 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-3) in a straight sets, 90-minute victory.
The 29-year-old Matosevic found the early going tough against the much younger Kyrgios, dropping five break points to fall to 6-5 before fighting back to clinch the tie break 7-4.
Kyrgios bounced back to an early 4-2 lead to start the second set but Matosevic’s powerful forehand game clearly frustrated the 19-year-old, leading to Kyrgios receiving a penalty foul for smashing his racquet on the court.
Having declared last week that Malaysia would be his last tournament of the year due to emotional exhaustion, Kyrgios wasn’t thrilled about ending the year on a sour note, saying “I’m very disappointed with the way I played today.”
“Marinko has certainly improved a lot. I didn’t play well today and I know that. Perhaps I will take some rest after this tournament,” he said.
World No.78 Matosevic was back in action for the first time since falling to Roger Federer at the US Open last month.
“This is my first match in over a month since I last played Federer. I am certainly pleased with my performance, especially my serve,” he said.
“I knew it was always going to be tough to beat Kyrgios who was seeded, but it worked out well and I’m happy with the win.”
Casey Dellacqua is well on her to supplanting Sam Stosur as Australia’s highest ranked woman after nabbing a win at the inaugural Wuhan Open in China.
Dellacqua defeated Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 7-6 (9-7) 6-7 (7-5) 6-1 while US Open winner Serena Williams was forced to withdraw midway through her encounter with Alize Cornet due to a severe bout of dizziness.
Photo: How Foo Yeen/Getty Images
