Australian wildcard Thanasi Kokkinakis battled past world number 34 Maxime Cressy 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (8-6) in a hard-fought first round match at the Adelaide International.
Kokkinakis fired 21 aces to win his sixth consecutive match win in Adelaide after winning his first ATP title at this tournament last year. The 26-year-old Australian player has scored his first to 50 win since August and just his third win since his title in Adelaide last January.
Both players went on serve without facing any break points in the first set en route to the tie-break. Kokkinakis earned the only mini-break to win the tie-break 7-5.
Cressy earned the first break in the fifth game of the second set to take a 3-2 lead. Kokkinakis broke back in the 10th game and fought back from a set point down in the second set tie-break at 6-7 in the second set tie-break and claimed the final three points to seal the win with an ace.
Kokkinakis will face either Jannik Sinner or Kyle Edmund in the second round.
“That was crazy. The atmosphere and the support helped me get through that. I had an incredible summer here last year starting off in Adelaide and with the Australian Open doubles win alongside Nick Kyrgios as a cherry on the top, but forever the Adelaide week will be the top moment for sure. ”, said Kokkinakis.
Last year Cressy started the season outside the top 100 to reach the final of the ATP 250 tournament in Adelaide as a qualifier and advanced to the fourth round at the Australian Open.
Miomir Kecmanovic edged past Christopher O’Connell 6-4 6-4 and will play against the winner of the match between third seed Danil Medvedev and Lorenzo Sonego.
British Next Gen player Jack Draper cruised past Soonwoo Kwon 6-2 6-1. Quentin Halys beat Jordan Thompson 6-3 6-4.
