Kyrgios & Kokkinakis throw away 2 match points in US Open defeat
ATP
Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis entered the 2022 US Open as the eighth-seeded pair despite playing only eight tournaments this season, but they couldn't add another title to their collection.
After winning the 2022 Australian Open, Kyrgios and Kokkinakis were a feared pairing at any tournament they entered. This year, they lost only three matches and won two titles, and they were one of the favorites to win the 2022 US Open even before it started.
After defeating Hugo Gaston and Lorenzo Musetti in the first round and Andre Goransson and Yoshihito Nishioka in the second, the Australian duo took on the eleventh-seeded Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara, a very experienced doubles team.
The match started better for the Australians as they broke their opponents already in the fourth game of the first set, and they kept their lead throughout the set, also thanks to seven aces that they managed to hit while their opponents didn't hit any.
In the second set, everything was going according to the plans for Kyrgios and Kokkinakis who had a total of three break points while their opponents didn't get to any. However, they couldn't use their chances and so the set reached a tie-break.
The 2022 Australian Open champions had two match points when they were already leading 6-4, but Glasspool and Heliovaara won four points in a row to level the score of the match.
And it seemed that the Australian duo was really stunned by what happened in the second set as they got broken at the start of the third set, and when their opponents already led 3-1 and had another break point, it appeared that Kyrgios and Kokkinakis would find a fourth team that would beat them this season.
Yet, they fought back and got the needed break to force the match tie-break. In the tie-break, it was once again the Australians that got the first mini-break, but their opponents soon deleted their lead, and the score was back to 3-3.
After trading another two mini-breaks, both teams showed their serving qualities before Nick Kyrgios managed to find a beautiful lob to give his team a crucial lead. But once again, Glasspool and Heliovaara fought back, and at 8-8, both teams were only two points away from winning the match.
Eventually, the more experienced doubles team won the last two points to win the match tie-break 10-8 and book the spot in the quarter-finals against Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.
