Nick Kyrgios and Casper Ruud made a winning debut as a duo after beating Jordan Thompson and Sumit Nagal 6-4 at the World Tennis League in Abu Dhabi.
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Entering the men's doubles match, Team Kites were trailing Team Hawks 5-12 so they needed the Australian and the Norwegian to win in order to just stay alive.
And early on, Kyrgios and Rudd claimed a break in the third game but got instantly broken back in the following game.
However, they didn't panic and went up by a break again after winning a deciding point in the fifth game.
This time, the 2022 Wimbledon runner-up and the former world No. 2 made no mistake on their serve as they routinely won their next three service games to seal the win in 36 minutes of action.
Ahead of the final meeting between Ruud and Nagal, the Kites team have 11 points while the Hawks have 16.
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Kyrgios and Ruud have a history but they won as a pair today
As you probably know, there is a bit of history between the two and it started in 2019 when the Australian was disqualified from their Rome Masters match and also called "an idiot on the court" by the Norwegian.
After beating the two-time French Open runner-up in 2022 Indian Wells, Kyrgios was caught on the camera saying: "I hear no talking now. I hear no talking now. None."
Later that year, Ruud confirmed that he and the 29-year-old weren't friends but claimed that they greet each other.
"You know, I didn't receive a Christmas card from him (Nick); nor did he receive one from me. But if we see each other we can say hello and there's no hard feelings. Nick is such a talented player, and he can beat anyone. I mean, you don't want to have a feud going on against him because he will probably want to bring his A-game every place," the world No. 6 said in 2022 December.
