Wild card Kokkinakis impresses with solid showing in Dubai opener
After a painful Australian Open loss, Thanasi Kokkinakis returned to the ATP Challenger Tour for a while, but this week, he's back in the main draw of an ATP 500 event.
The Australian received a wild card for the 2023 Dubai Championships and he's determined to make good use of it. Currently, Kokkinakis is ranked 101st in the ATP Rankings, but a good showing in the United Arab Emirates can give him a proper boost.
Before flying to Dubai, the 26-year-old won a Challenger event in Bahrain and so he was motivated to continue the winning streak in a first-round match against lucky loser Quentin Halys from France. The two met twice in 2021, and the Frenchman won both matches, so Kokkinakis was aware of his qualities.
The 2022 Australian Open doubles champion was doing well on his serve in the first set, and thanks to using one of four break points, he got the well-needed break to win the first set 6-4 in 40 minutes.
In the second set, Kokkinakis showed his serving qualities in full as he hit 11 aces. But this time, he wasn't able to get a break. Moreover, he faced three set points on his serve in the tenth game, but after saving those, the second set was decided in a tie-break.
The Australian led twice by a mini-break and even had one match point on his serve, but Halys just refused to give up and always came back. Once again, Kokkinakis got a mini-break for another match point on his serve, but this time, nerves got the better of him and he hit only his second double fault in the match.
Eventually, the Australian was able to push through in a marathon tie-break, winning the match 6-4, 7-6(9) in an hour and 50 minutes. Thanks to his win and the points earned, he's projected to return to the Top 100 once again on Monday.
Kokkinakis is just the second player to advance to the second round at the 2023 Dubai Championships, as Lorenzo Sonego defeated Marc-Andrea Huesler in the match that started at the same time.
In the second round, the Australian will await winner of the match between the eighth-seeded Borna Coric from Croatia and the British no. 2, Daniel Evans.
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