Nick Kyrgios broke the spell and won a tournament in his Australian homeland for the first time. It was the 22-year-old’s fourth individual title on the ATP tour.
Ace number 17 brought home the home win: Nick Kyrgios went after the sovereign 6:4,6:2 final victory in Brisbane against Ryan Harrison (USA) quite cool in the net and showed no emotions. Only a few minutes later, in his court interview, the enfant Terrible gave a deep glimpse:”I love to play in front of you, even if it doesn’t always look like that,”Kyrgios shouted to the crowd in the Pat-Rafter-Arena and coquettished with his reputation as perhaps the moody protagonist of the scene.
The winner’s cup went to the world rankings-21. by former Australian tennis star Roy Emerson (81). In 2016, Kyrgios had won all of his tournaments so far: In Tokyo, Atlanta, Marseille. To hard court. Now in Queensland he fulfilled his dream of winning at home. In the semi-final he had eliminated the top seeded ATP world champion Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) with 3:6,6:1,6:4. Mischa Zverev (No. 8) was eliminated in the last sixteen, as was Lucky Loser Yannick Hanfmann, who lost to Harrison in three sets. The Karlsruher had benefited from the rejection of the two-time Wimbledon winner Andy Murray and had moved into the main field. Due to persistent hip problems, the Scotsman has also decided not to participate in the Australian Open (from 15. January).