HALLE, WESTPHALIA/STARNBERG, June 15, 2022
The bottom half of the draw was in second-round action at the Terra Wortmann Open on Wednesday, led by Australian Nick Kyrgios, who is finding his range on the grass in Halle. The 27-year-old wild card entry of the ATP 500 event rallied from a set down to edge out No. 2 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas from Greece 5-7, 6-2, 6-4.
Kyrgios withstood 18 aces, hit 32 winners and secured a crucial break late in the deciding set to grab a quarterfinal spot after two hours and five minutes on tournament debut.
Sealed in style 🕺
The moment @NickKyrgios secured his win over Tsitsipas to make the Halle quarter-finals!#TWO2022 pic.twitter.com/ksGnb190Py
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) June 15, 2022
“Stef is one of the best players in the world at the moment and he’s going to have some amazing results and I’m sure many, many Grand Slams,” said Kyrgios afterwards. “I don’t know if I can say the same for me, but I’m happy to still be able to produce this level with the tournaments I play. It is a testament to how hard I do work when I’m not playing.”
“I’m just super excited to move on as well, I want to keep having these big wins on the best courts in the world.”
The World No. 65 from Canberra will next take on No. 6 seed Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain, who edged past US-American Sebastian Korda 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 in one hour and 39 minutes.
“I’m excited,” Kyrgios said of his upcoming opponent. “He’s a hell of a player and he can play on all surfaces. So I’m going to try and see what I can do, bump a couple of returns and serve big, and see how it goes.”
Hubert Hurkacz knocked out Halle defending champion Ugo Humbert of France 7-6(5), 6-3. The fifth favourite from Poland won 53 per cent of the total points played to prevail after one hour and 45 minutes. Up next for Hurkacz will be Felix Auger-Aliassime. The fourth-seeded Canadian edged past Mackenzie McDonald from the United States 7-6(7), 6-1. The encounter lasted one hour and 32 minutes.
