Brisbane, Jan 1 Nick Kyrgios and Novak Djokovic’s doubles run at the Brisbane International came to an end in dramatic fashion as the pair fell to top seeds Nikola Mektic and Michael Venus in a tense tiebreak on Wednesday.
Having rallied from a set down, Djokovic and Kyrgios looked headed for the semi-finals before the former World No. 1 pushed for too much on his second serve at 8/6, the beginning of a four-point winning streak by the top seeds to close out the match 6-2 3-6, 10-8.
The loss brought down the curtain on Kyrgios’ comeback tournament, which had been eagerly anticipated following an 18-month hiatus due to injury.
Kyrgios’ doubles exit followed a first-round singles defeat to France’s Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard on Tuesday night. Playing his first match since September 2023 wrist surgery, the 29-year-old moved freely and showed few signs of rust. But he did play with heavy taping on his wrist and called the physio to court.
Meanwhile, Djokovic’s first singles outing of the new season at the Brisbane International has lived up to the Serbian’s lofty expectations as he eased past home favourite Rinky Hijikata on Tuesday in his first tour-level singles match since October.
Djokovic will play his second-round singles match against Gael Monfils On Thursday as he looks to extend his ATP Head-2-Head record against the Frenchman to 20-0.
In the men' singles on Wednesday, Grigor Dimitrov advanced to the quarterfinals with a win over Australian wildcard Aleksandar Vukic.
The reigning men’s champion’s 6-2, 7-6 victory marked his second successive straight-sets ledger and set a showdown with another Australian, eighth seed Jordan Thompson or American Alex Michelsen.
The 33-year-old’s 25th match win in Brisbane took him to an eighth quarterfinal at the Queensland Tennis Centre from nine straight appearances and improved his record to 50-6 against players ranked outside the top 50, according to the tournament's stats.
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