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Australian Open: Kyrgios saves match points in win over Humbert
Kyrgios will meet third-seeded Dominic Thiem in the third round. Thiem lost the final at last year’s Australian Open and went one better to win the US Open title.
Nick Kyrgios saved two match points in the fourth set before beating 29th-seeded Ugo Humbert 5-7, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 in a momentum-swinging second-round match at the Australian Open.
The mercurial Australian will meet third-seeded Dominic Thiem in the third round. Thiem lost the final at last year’s Australian Open and went one better to win the US Open title.
Kyrgios is playing in his first major since the 2020 Australian Open. He hasn’t left Australia since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
He has played his first two matches on the third show court at Melbourne Park. It is officially renamed the John Cain Arena this year but known by Kyrgios and his fans as the Peoples' Court.
The official crowd at Melbourne Park on Wednesday was 19,900. That is the biggest so far of the tournament. The government has restricted the capacity to about 30,000 daily because of the pandemic.
There were thousands of fans watching Kyrgios play the late match and he said they helped him through “some dark thoughts there” when he was facing match points.
Earlier, Simona Halep narrowly averted an early exit at the Australian Open on Wednesday night, coming back from 5-2 down in the third set to beat No. 72 Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
The second-seeded Halep hadn’t lost to a player ranked as low as Tomljanovic since her second-round defeat to No. 116 Taylor Townsend at the 2019 U.S. Open.
Halep struggled to find her range with her groundstrokes, committing 37 unforced errors. The two players combined for 15 service breaks.
“I expected she’s going to play hard and very strong,” Halep said. “I expected it would be a difficult match, but it was more than I thought. I’m really happy I can smile now.”
Halep, a two-time major champion, is closing in on her 100th Grand Slam main draw win. With the victory over Tomljanovic, she’s now 98-38.
