Despite injury, Kyrgios and Kokkinakis win 2 matches in 1 day and claim Atlanta Open doubles title
ATP
Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis teamed up for doubles after almost four months, and they dominated the 2022 Atlanta Open.
While Kokkinakis lost already in the first round of the singles event, Kyrgios withdrew due to an injury but still elected to play doubles in Atlanta. They started well in doubles, beating Nicolas Mahut and Eduard Roger-Vasselin, and Hunter Reese and Gonzalo Escobar in their first two matches.
After winning the first two matches, the Australian duo waited for their semi-final opponents for a couple of days, and eventually, their semi-final match against Rajeev Ram and Jack Sock was stopped by rain.
As a result of the rain delay, they had to play two matches on Sunday. However, that wasn't an issue for the Australian duo as they won both of them. They finished their match against Sock and Ram, winning 6-4, 6-7(7), 10-2 to reach the final.
In the final, Kyrgios and Kokkinakis took on compatriots Jason Kubler and John Peers. The second-seeded pairing was better when it mattered as Kyrgios and Kokkinakis won the final match 7-6(4), 7-5.
Kyrgios was happy about the duo's win in Atlanta. He might have been forced to withdraw from the singles event, but he got plenty of confidence from how well they did on the doubles court.
"Obviously Atlanta is a special place. Won the singles title here [in 2016] and now the doubles. Crowd's amazing and it was a new experience playing two matches in one day as well for a title. Me and Kokki were pretty resilient and obviously no singles this week, but confidence is at an all-time high in doubles."
Kokkinakis was happy to share the court with Kyrgios. He hopes to keep this good run of form going, especially with the US Open right around the corner.
"Stoked to have won the Atlanta doubles title with Nick. It's always a pleasure playing with him. Second title for the year and I think we're getting better. It's been a great week here, a good way to start off the [American] summer in Atlanta for the US Open and hopefully we can keep it rolling."
