Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis defeated Hugo Gaston of France and Lorenzo Musetti of Italy to begin their doubles competition at the 2022 US Open.
The Australian duo rallied from a set down to defeat their opponents 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the two-hour first-round encounter at Louis Armstrong Stadium. After the game, Kyrgios made an intriguing statement that caught the attention of the media.
"Honestly, I’d rather play doubles than practice. It’s good money too and makes my girlfriend happy." - said Kyrgios after the match noting that playing doubles was more lucrative and made his partner Costeen Hatzi happy.
"We live to fight another day. We made it really tough for ourselves tonight but the crowd was electric. We definitely have aspirations to win the tournament. I'm just glad we're in the tournament after tonight." added Kyrgios who was relieved about the match win.
The encounter saw numerous tense exchanges between the two teams, with Kyrgios and Kokkinakis occasionally smashing their racquets to the court out of fury. Although the Australians broke Gaston and Musetti twice, they missed 13 more break opportunities.
They had eight aces overall, compared to their opponents' two. Kyrgios and Kokkinakis will compete against Andre Goransson of Sweden and Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan next.
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