It seems not a day can go by without Nick Kyrgios’ name appearing in the headlines. Just a day after Lleyton Hewitt was named as the new captain of the Australian Davis Cup team and vowed to help ot Kyrgios to fulfill his tremendous potential, the 20 year-old from Canberra was surprised by German qualifier Daniel Brands in the opening round of the Valencia Open.
Kyrgios came out of the blocks running by taking a 4-1 lead in the first set but he dropped his serve twice consecutively and ended up losing the first set 6-4. Brands, ranked 170 in the world, was appearing in his first ATP main draw match for over a year but accepted the gift with arms wide open.
The explosive Aussie got things back to a set all after a tremendous run of four straight games which saw him race to 6-2. With the momentum clearly on his side, Kyrgios looked like he was heading directly to the second round, setting up a mouth-watering clash with number one seed, and local star, David Ferrer.
However, Brands stayed in it in the third set and managed to grab the deciding tie break with solid tennis that proved too much for Kyrgios’ erratic play.
“I think the key today was to stay calm and just focus on the important points. I think I played some good points today and a really good match”, said Brands after his first ATP Tour win of the season.
Other qualifiers enjoyed success today also in Valencia, with Mischa Zverev knocking out Bellucci in three tie breaks and Taro Daniel overcoming Przysieznt. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez posted an impressive win in the all-Spanish battle against Fernando Verdasco, Aljaz Bedene knocked out number eight seed Jeremy Chardy, Benoit Paire beat lucky loser Gombos in three sets and Joao Sousa battled past the in-form Gilles Muller in the other results of the day.
