Nick Kyrgios wouldn’t say he’s the luckiest player in the world, but he had some big luck in his match against Hubert Hurkacz at the 2022 Canadian Open.
Kyrgios continued his strong season at the Canadian Open, putting together a solid run that ultimately set him up to play against Hurkacz in the quarter-final of the ATP Masters 1000 event.
The semi-final was at stake, and Kyrgios wanted to make it; however, to do so, he would have to overcome a very solid opponent who was playing superb tennis.
Hurkacz is generally a tough player to face, especially when his serve is firing on all cylinders, as it often does. The match proved to be as tight with nothing between the two aspiring semi-finalists.
Both players were in form and didn’t allow much on their serve. The first set naturally went to a tie-break, which Hurkacz won 7-4. Kyrgios looked very annoyed in the second set, showing visible frustration at times, but he was able to get himself to yet another tie-break.
This time around, he got very lucky. The crucial moment came at 3-2 for Kyrgios when a point was decided by a double net cord bounce, which left the Australian stunned—something he nicely demonstrated with the expression he made after that.
He apologized to Hurkacz, who was very frustrated by the way the rally unfolded. From there, Kyrgios held the lead, winning the tie-break 7-5, but in the end, it was Hurkacz who got the final laugh as he won the final set without too many problems, 6-1, to secure the semi-final of the event.
Kyrgios will now make his way to the Cincinnati Masters, where he hopes to continue his tremendous season so far. Analysts have floated him as a dark horse for the US Open, but he’ll need to play a bit better than this.