Nick Kyrgios' comeback is off to a winning start after he and Jasmine Paolini defeated Denis Shapovalov and Caroline Garcia 7-5 at the World Tennis League in Abu Dhabi.
ADVERTISEMENT
After undergoing knee and wrist surgeries and missing the last two seasons, the Australian is playing in Abu Dhabi this week and using it as a preparation for his ATP return, which is set to start in nine days in Brisbane.
And his first match back went as well as possible as the 29-year-old's serve looked decent and he also had fun competing again.
Now, Kyrgios - who represent Team Kites - will stay on the court to meet Team Falcons' Andrey Rublev in singles.
The mixed doubles win was extremely important for the Australian's team as the Falcons now lead only 18-17 and the 2022 Wimbledon runner-up has a chance to bring the victory to his team if he beats the eighth-ranked Russian in the final match.
How Kyrgios and Paolini beat Shapovalov and Garcia?
Through the opening 10 games, no breaks were seen and the two pairs were tied to five games apiece.
ADVERTISEMENT
However, there were break point chances in either side. In three of the first 10 games, games went to deuce and a deciding point - Shapovalov and Garcia saved a break point in the first game while Paolini and Kyrgios won the deciding points on their serve in the fourth and eighth games.
Then, the Australian and the Italian took their rival's serve to love in the 11th game to go 6-5 up before realizing their first match point on their serve in the following game and sealing the win.
It will be interesting to see if Kyrgios can now also deliver in singles and beat Rublev.
