Nick Kyrgios has come back from a break down in the final set to move through to the second round of the Estoril Open.
Kyrgios, who was playing journeyman Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas, won the match 6-3 6-7(5) 7-6(3), but it wasn’t without more than it’s share of drama.
Having lost the second set in a tie-breaker, Kyrgios found himself down a break in the third, but rallied to get things level late in the final set.
Kyrgios then went up 6-5 and had two match points on the Ramos-Vinolas serve, one of which he blew in spectacular fashion by missing a short ball wide and long just when it appeared the match was his.
That led to a final set breaker, which Kyrgios clinched seven points to three.
He was simply happy to make it through the match.
“When I was down a break in the third set, I was struggling. But somehow I broke back in the tiebreaker.
“It was a fun match in the end and I’m very pleased to get through. I was frustrated at the end of the second set. I’ve not played a lot of tennis in the last few months.
“Having match points last week and not converting did not help the confidence. I just need to play a lot more matches right now, I’ve not played a lot of tennis in the last few months.”
Kyrgios escaped, but it wasn’t so for fellow Aussie Marinko Matosevic, who lost in straight sets to a returning Richard Gasquet.
The 7-6(7) 6-1 loss to Gasquet, who was making his return from a back injury, was Matosevic’s sixth consecutive first round loss in all tournaments in a stretch dating back to March’s Indian Wells event, where he lost to Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
The last time Matosevic won a match on the ATP Tour was at the Acapulco event in February, where he defeated Spaniard Marcel Granollers, before falling to David Ferrer.
Gasquet last took to a court on cement in Indian Wells on March 15, retiring with a herniated disc in his back against German Michael Berrer in the second round.
Losses for Kokkinakis, Tomic
In Konstantinoupoli another young Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis fell in the first round to 24-year-old Serb Dusan Lajovic 6-4 7-5.
Kokkinakis had earlier qualified for the main draw by winning three matches.
Meanwhile, in Munich, Bernard Tomic let slip a one-set-to-love lead to lose to Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic in the first round of the BMW Open.
Tipsarevic, playing on a wildcard in just his third tournament of the year, is making a comeback after being sidelined 17 months following two surgeries to remove a benign tumor from his left foot.
In a little over two hours, he defeated Tomic 5-7 6-1 7-6(3).
Tipsarevic hammered 11 aces in the three-set win and took advantage of the Tomic second serve, winning more than half the points when the Australian missed with his first ball.
The win sets Tipsarevic up for a second round battle with Dominican journeyman Victor Estrella Burgos.
The loss marks the first time this year that Tomic has bowed out in the first round of a tournament.
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