Dubai: Martin Klizan became the second seed to crash out as he melted in three sets in front of the red-hot Nick Kyrgios of Australia in their Dubai debut at the Dubai Tennis Stadium late on Tuesday.
The seventh-seeded Klizan, who won the his fourth ATP World Tour title in Rotterdam earlier this month, could not sustain some of the clinical precision of a much younger opponent who had arrived only on Monday after clinching his first-ever ATP World Tour title in Marseille on Sunday.
On Monday, Marcos Baghdatis had sent fifth seed Viktor Troicki packing in straight sets, and with the departure of Klizan only six of the eight seeds remain in the second round of the main draw.
The temperamental Australian, who was seemingly irked after being admonished by chair umpire Ali Nili into hurrying up early in the match, went on to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in a little over an hour and a half on centre court.
“I was not 100 per cent out there as I hardly got enough sleep after arriving here. But I think I just wet there and did what I needed to do to get the win,” Kyrgios said.
“The conditions can be quite tricky out there as the balls keep flying around. Add to this I didn’t play my best,” he added.
The 20-year-old, who was making his debut in Dubai, was so irked with the chair umpire that he refrained from taking a single break for the remainder of the first set. And with emotion getting the better of the Australian, Klizan then simply went for his shots to romp through the opening set 6-3 in 28 minutes.
The second set was an exact contrast with Kyrgios breaking early in the second but failed to hold. However, he made amends as he broke a second time only to be broken again as the seventh seed trailed 2-3. He then served a love game to draw level 3-3. Kyrgios broke one more time to lead 5-3 and then eased through the set 6-3.
In the third set Kyrgios was dominant early breaking in the first before Klizan broke back in the fourth to attempt a revival. But the Australian youngster dug in deep and ensured there were no further hiccups as he broke again in the seventh to serve out set and match 6-2 to complete an intense match in a little over an hour and a half.
Kyrgios will now meet Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan. “He is going to be another tough opponent. He is a veteran and I know it is going to be tough. But I will be there tomorrow,” Kyrgios said.
Earlier in the day, second seed Stan Wawrinka had followed top seed and four-time Dubai champion Novak Djokovic into the second round.
Results on Day Two of the Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open being held at the Dubai Tennis Stadium: (Singles) Roberto Bautista Agut bt Simone Bolelli 6-2, 6-4; Tomas Berdych bt Joao Sousa 6-1, 6-4; Borna Coric bt Jiri Vesely 6-4, 6-4; Philipp Kohlschreiber bt Marsel Ilhan 6-1, 7-5; Thomas Fabbiano bt Leonardo Mayer 6-3, 6-4; Franko Skugor bt Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-2, 6-3; Lukas Rosol bt Yuki Bhambri 2-6, 7-6, 6-0; Mikhail Kukushkin bt Denis Istomin 7-5, 7-6; Stan Wawrinka bt Sergiy Stakhovsky 5-7, 6-3, 7-5; Nick Kyrgios bt Martin Klizan 3-6, 6-3 6-2.
(Doubles) Feliciano Lopez/Marc Lopez bt Dominic Inglot/Robert Lindstedt 7-6, 6-3; Simone Bolelli/Andreas Seppi bt Mahesh Bhupathi/Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 6-4, 6-2; Hyeon Chung/Jiri Vesely bt Vasek Pospisil/Nenad Zimonjic 6-4, 6-4; Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez/Viktor Troicki 6-2, 7-5.
