(Tennis news) Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios’ nine match winning streak ended after he lost to Hubert Hurkacz 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (5-7) 6-1. It was Kyrgios’ first defeat since the Wimbledon final against Novak Djokovic who has been in rampant form since then, winning the Citi Open. However, Hurkacz defeated Kyrgios for the second time this year, having overcome the Australian in the Halle semi-finals with a three set win. The result means that Hurkacz will now face Norwegian fourth seed Casper Ruud who defeated sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1 6-2. 

It was an intense battle between Hurkacz and Kyrgios, with the Polish tennis player getting 20 aces compared to Kyrgios’ 19 and the match produced two breaks with Hurkacz winning both of them. Kyrgios had a brilliant opportunity to take control with a triple break point after holding serve to open the second but was not able to convert. The Polish player struggled to get a break as Kyrgios went on to win a tie-break with an ace. However, Kyrgios threw away the match by committing a few double faults as Hurkacz secured the first break. The Australian then committed more double faults which helped Hurkacz go 5-1 up and held his serve to progress into the last four.

Speaking in the on-court interview after the match, Hurkacz said “Nick has been playing some incredible tennis throughout the past weeks, so it is a pleasure playing against him. I hope the fans enjoyed it as well, but I am happy with the result in the end. I started really well. Nick was maybe a little bit injured, which might have hurt his serve. With both of us serving so well, that few percent can make the difference.”

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