Thanks to a format in which the 2022 Diriyah Tennis Cup is played, Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas appeared on the same side of the court in the doubles tournament.
After the Australia lost in the first round to Cameron Norrie and his Greek rival lost on the same day to the same opponent, they were drawn for a doubles tournament together. In the semifinal match, they took on Hubert Hurkacz and Dominic Stricker, who also lost their singles matches in Saudi Arabia.
Everyone knows about their spicy meeting at this year's Wimbledon and therefore their pairing at the event was really interesting for everyone involved. However, shortly before the match, they exchanged few nice words on Twitter as the Australian tweeted:
"Doubles with tsitsi tonight." The Greek soon replied: "Who would have thought." Showing respect to his opponent, Kyrgios responded once more: "2 of the best in the world chances were always very slim."
Despite sharing this nice moment ahead of the match, it wasn't so nice for them on court. The Greek-Australian duo started with a break, but immediately they also lost their serve and so the first set had to be decided in a tie-break.
The team with this year's Australian Open doubles champion got the first mini-break, but Hurkacz and Stricker soon responded with three mini-breaks and won the tie-break 7-3.
Both teams had some break points also in the second set, but none of them celebrated success. Therefore, also the second set was decided in a tie-break and Hurkacz with Stricker won it 7-3 again to advance into the 2022 Diriyah Tennis Cup final.
They will meet Matteo Berrettini and Andrey Rublev as the Italian and Russian defeated Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem earlier today.
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