Top-seeded Kyrgios & Kokkinakis learn their fate in Tokyo as they chase 3rd season title
Thanks to their success at the Australian Open and in Atlanta, Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis are the top-seeded team at the 2022 Japan Open in Tokyo.
The Australian duo is having the best season of their careers and while it's mostly in doubles for Thanasi Kokkinakis, his doubles partner, Nick Kyrgios is the highest-ranked Australian player in both singles and doubles and also collected an award for Australia's best tennis player in 2022.
After winning in Atlanta, the Australian duo teamed up in Cincinnati and US Open where they lost in the second and third round respectively. At the 2022 Japan Open, Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis are one of the biggest favourites to win the title, especially after the draw was revealed.
In the first round, they will meet a home duo Yoshihito Nishioka and Kaichi Uchida. None of the players has a lot of experience with doubles and the Japanese duo signed up for the event mostly to entertain the crowd in Tokyo.
If they advance into the quarterfinals, Kyrgios and Kokkinakis won't face any experienced doubles pair again. They will met winner of the match between Nicolas Jarry and Gonzalo Escobar or Pedro Martinez and Bernabe Zapata Miralles.
The biggest test for the Australians may come in the semifinals of the tournament as all four possible opponents are capable of beating the 2022 Australian Open champions under certain circumstances.
Daniel Evans & John Peers, Andre Goransson & Ben McLachlan, Mackenzie McDonald & Marcelo Melo or Frances Tiafoe & Alex de Minaur can all be semifinal opponents of Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis.
If the Aussies make it all the way to the final, they will most probably face a well-known pairing for them, compatriots Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell. It was Ebden and Purcell who Kyrgios and Kokkinakis defeated to lift their maiden Grand Slam title and so it would be a nice rematch with four Australians in Japan's capital.
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