Nick Kyrgios has burst into form this summer, with the Australian booking into his second straight final through success at the ATP Washington event.
Last month’s Wimbledon runner-up to Novak Djokovic, carried on with his momentum with a semi-final defeat of Swede Mikael Ymer 7-6(4), 6-3.
He will compete on Sunday in his second final at the 500 event in the US capital when he faces Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka, whom he has defeated in three previous meetings.
The left-hander booked his spot 6-3, 6-4 over Andrey Rublev.
Kyrgios is showing that his self-fuelled dedication to the sport can pay big dividends.
“Honestly I didn’t play anywhere near my best tennis today,” the No. 63 said.
“Today I definitely felt like the favourite. I served pretty solid. But from the back of the court I didn’t play well at all.”
Kyrgos threw down 10 aces against the 115th-ranked Ymer and never faced a break point over 96 minutes in the heat and humidity of Washington.
But the Swede surprised his Aussie opponent despite taking the loss.
“He’s an incredible athlete, I really wasn’t expecting him to be that fast,” Kyrgios said.
“Maybe (it’s best) not to try and out rally him, maybe come forward a little bit more. It was a tough-fought semi-final and I’m just happy to be in the final once again.”
Former No. 16 Kyrgios has already lifted his ranking to 42 and could reach 27 – and get close to a US Open seeding – with a title victory Sunday evening.
