Nick Kyrgios has defeated Daniil Medvedev 7-6(6), 7-6(4) to cap off one of the best weeks of his life to walk away with the sixth title of his career and the second ATP 500 title in 2019.
Kyrgios will now rise to no. 27 in the rankings and retake the top spot in Aussie tennis.
In the first set he was suffering from back spasms, but despite that, he did not have a single break point against him. Medvedev also did not face a break point.
The match came down to a few key points in the tie breakers with Medvedev making a few unforced errors at key moments.
The Russian looked to be on his way to taking the first set when ahead 5-2 but Kyrgios held his nerve and slowly fought his way back, firstly with help from Medvedev when he sent a backhand well over the baseline at 2-5 with Kyrgios having served.
Kyrgios showed good patience on the next point before Medvedev finally lost his as he went for a down the line winner that he hit wide.
A big backhand from Kyrgios that took Medvedev wide and deep was followed by a dropshot winner for Kyrgios to level the scores at 5-5.
A first serve that Kyrgios barely hit gave Medvedev a set point but that was saved by an Ace from the Australian. A down the line winner from Kyrgios gave him a set point on Medvedev’s serve.
A forehand hit wide by the Russian handed the set to Kyrgios. He then received treatment from the trainer.
As in the first set, the second came down to a breaker.
A backhand sent wide and long off the Medvedev racquet gave Kyrgios a mini-break on the first point. The Russian immediately hit back when hit a well angled backhand to force an error.
A big serve and a big forehand was too much to handle for Medvedev on the next point. A good volley from the Russian got the score level at 2-2.
The Russian attacked the net and forced another error from the Australian as he pushed a rushed passing shot wide for 3-2. Ace no. 16 took Kyrgios to 3-3.
A 225 km rocket serve could not be handled by Medvedev and his return sailed long for his to serve next at 3-4. Another Medvedev unforced error when he hit long had Kyrgios two points from the title.
Medvedev won the next point before Krygios was presented with two serves to claim the title. Championship point was earned with an Ace.
The title was his after an angled Ace to the forehand corner. The Australian fell to the court in celebration. He then thanked a lady in the crowd for her advice on match point.
“This has honestly been one of my favourite weeks of my life. I’ve made massive strides,” Kyrgios said. “I started becoming friends with the smoothie guy, he knew what smoothie I wanted. I was playing ping pong with some kids before I’m playing. You guys were amazing. It was honestly a week to remember.”
There were 32 winners from Kyrgios and 29 for Medvedev and Medvedev had just 14 unforced errors to 19 from Nick, but it was when the errors came that was the difference.
He improved to 5-1 against Top 10 players in 2019, a winning percentage of 83, best on the ATP Tour this year. World No. 1 Novak Djokovic has won seven of his nine matches against Top 10 players this season (7/9, 78%).
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