Kyrgios crashes in Houston after line-call drama
Nick Kyrgios cut a frustrated and angry figure after a mistaken line call compounded a poor performance as he lost his semi-final at Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston to Reilly Opelka.
No.3 seed Opelka punched his ticket for the final with a 6-3 7-5 win over the Australian wildcard, dominating for much of the match as Kyrgios failed to bring his best to the match.
It was always going to be a challenge for Kyrgios up against the giant American, whose serve was on song throughout the match, firing down 18 aces through the match and winning 86 per cent of the points on his first serve, giving up just one break point, which Kyrgios did take in the second set.
In truth, though, that was too little too late for the Australian, who brought his erratic personality to the court rather than his brilliant best. The first set had whizzed by before he'd even really found his feet on the clay and a nonchalant and poorly executed drop shot on break point at 1-2 ultimately led to his demise as he gifted the opening stanza to Opelka.
Things improved briefly in the second after Kyrgios recovered from going a break down to level things at 4-4 with a brilliant forehand to pass Opelka as his advanced to the net.
But things unravelled spectacularly at 5-5 in the second set with Kyrgios 30-15 up when a blocked return of serve from Opelka appeared to land beyond the baseline, but Kyrgios played on after it wasn't called out, only to lose the point and any chance of appealing the mistake because no replay system is available on the clay courts.
After a lengthy complaint to the officials, a clearly distracted Kyrgios lumbered through the rest of the game, surrendering it to go down 5-6 before Opelka made quick work of his next service game to close out the match.
Kyrgios continued to argue with the chair umpire after the match, but all to no avail as he ended his best run at the tournament in disappointing fashion.
Kyrgios, who is now 10-4 on the season, became the first Australian semi-finalist at River Oaks since Lleyton Hewitt in 2009. He was also the first wild card at River Oaks to reach the last four since Ernesto Escobedo in 2017.
“I’ve had a very good of three weeks of tennis,” a calmer Kyrgios said in his post-match interview. “I’m happy with where I’m at tennis-wise. I’m just going to head back home now, enjoy my time at home and build for my next event.”
Opelka's win meant at least one American would be in the championship final for the fifth time in the past six events at River Oaks, and John Isner's win in the other semi-final made that two Americans.
Isner, the 2013 Houston champion, came from a set down to defeat defending champion Cristian Garin 4-6 6-3 6-4.
The 36-year-old's serve improved as the match went on and ultimately propelled him to victory, facing four break points in the opening set, one in the second and none in the decider.
Isner served 17 aces on his way to the final, and won 80 per cent of points on his first serve.
"It's never easy when you have to come back from one set down," he said. "My serve certainly helped me out a lot. I didn't have to hit too many balls there in the end, and I didn't want to.
"I'm so happy to be in the final again here. At my age you never really know when you can get back to a final of a tournament like this."
It will be the first final In Houston for 24-year-old Opelka – his third on the ATP Tour this season – and is likely to be a big-serving shootout between the two.