Nick Kyrgios laid on tweeners, flick returns and the occasional underhand serve to reach his second grass court semi-final in a row, beating Pablo Carreno Busta 6-4, 6-2 on Friday at the ATP Halle event.
The colourful Australian who admits the game can bore him at times with its monochrome players and tactics, duplicated his final-four showing last week on German grass in Stuttgart, where he lost a drama-filled match against Andy Murray..
In Halle Kyrgios dusted Spain’s PCB as the pair played for the first time since 2016, firing 13 aces in a win lasting 69 minutes in front of an appreciative full-hour crowd in the north of the country.
The No. 65 Aussie will bid for the final on Saturday, taking on Hubert Hurkacz a 7-6(2), 7-6(4) winnver over Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Top seed Daniil Medvedev eased through over Spain’s Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 6-4.
The win was the first for the world No. 1 in that series after three defeats.
Medvedev now faces German Oscar Otte, a 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 winner over eighth seed Karen Khachanov
Kyrgios has been on a roll ever since flying out of Australia after skipping the entire European clay season and restarting his career last week in Stuttgart.
“I’ve had some good runs in my career, but I’m really pleased with this performance,” he said. “I played really well today.”
Kyrgios believes he’s a bit of fresh air in an often-stale sport. “Tennis has been so straight for so long, All I’m doing is an underhand serve. It was not much, but the crowd went crazy.
“They are so used to watching the same thing every time. When someone like me comes and does things differently, that’s all it takes.”
He added that tennis can also be a lonely – if well-paid for some – occupation.
“You are on your own, an island, you are exposed. You can’t go to your team and have a sit-down for 30 seconds.
“It’s a love it: love-hate relationship for me for sure.”
Main photo:- Nick Kyrgios winning in Halle today – by ATPTour.com
