(Tennis news) Thanasi Kokkinakis made a dream comeback by winning the Adelaide International 2, he beat Arthur Rinderknech in the final. This was the first title for Kokkinakis and second final after Los Cabos in 2017. The Australian had saved multiple match points against Marin Cilic in the semifinal and even in the final he had to burn all his energy to take the trophy.

Both players were serving strong in the first set as Kokkinakis was the first one to get a chance in tie break 6-5 but couldn't finalize the deal. After saving a set point, Rinderknech won the set due to an unforced error by the wildcard entry. The second set saw the service defense going strong and the tiebreak saw Rinderknech win the first two points until Kokkinakis won a hat trick of points. It was level at this point, the 25 year old made it 6-3 as he had 3 set points to level the score but the frenchmen saved two points which didn’t put load on his opponent. With a strong first serve, the scores were leveled.

In the deciding set, the world number 48 serve was broken in the opening game as the crowd was fully behind the home favorite. The world no 103 did not let his serve get broken as he continued to dominate the service games and then broke Rinderknech for the second time to take the title at Adelaide.

"I wouldn't want to win my first title anywhere else," said Kokkinakis, who out-aced his opponent 18 to 15. "To my family, friends and coaches, what a ride it's been. You have seen me at my lowest lows and now the highest high. It's been a serious journey. For now I am so happy.

“I’ve been playing and practicing on this court since I was eight or nine years old, coming here before school every day. I love this court so much.”

Aslan Karatsev replayed his 2021 Australia form this year when he beat Andy Murray for the Sydney Tennis Classic title. Karatsev only needed an hour and half in the final to win his third career title. The Russian never looked out of shape in the event as the groundstrokes were hard to reciprocate and even Murray was not able to match up to Karatsev aggressive stroking of the ball.

Karatsev had 4 breakpoints in the first set and won two of them to keep a lead over the former world number 1. Murray could not decode his opponent's serve as he failed to break him in the opening set and had 4 double faults to give the lead. In the second set, Murray had five breakpoint chances but could win one of them and conceded 2 out of three to again lose the chance to come back into the match.

In the 9th game of the second set, Murray was out of fuel as he couldn’t believe it when Karatsev hit a neat inside out forehand winner in a 19 shot rally. Karatsev and Murray will be heading into the Australian Open because of their performances in Sydney.

"It was an important moment to keep the level, keep the serve. I lost a bit of concentration on the first serve. Especially against him it's important to have a first serve, because on the second serve he steps in and can dictate the point more," Karatsev said. "It was a tough game. I tried to manage it, to stay calm, to stick to my plan."

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