Broady blown away by Kyrgios whirlwind
Stockport’s Liam Broady was caught up in a service whirlwind, in a raucous John Cain Arena in today’s first round Australian Open Tennis tie.
Broady, who had qualified for the Australian Open for the first time, having come back from first set deficits three times in qualifiers fell to a 6-4 6-4 6-3 defeat to a fired-up Nick Kyrgios in front of a wild Melbourne crowd despite impressing the crowd with a resilient performance.
Kyrgios has made no secret of the fact that the Arena, is his favourite court in tennis, and it was at fever pitch early on as Kyrgios stormed out of the blocks in his first match for four months.
Having broken Broady early on, he brought the house down when sealing his first service game with a through-the-legs underarm serve.
It looked at that stage like Broady could be blown away but the Stockport left hander stood strong in the baying arena with a service hold to 30 to get onto the board.
That early break proved crucial though, as Kyrgios’ serve was imperious and meant that despite Broady holding serve comfortably the Australian was able to wrap up the first set with 10 aces and an 83% first serve percentage.
The second set followed a similar pattern to the first with Broady fighting desperately to get on the board, three times Broady faced a break point, only to save it, but at the fourth time of asking Kyrgios was able to seal the break and take the early advantage.
Broady saved a breakpoint before getting on the board in the third game, and despite winning a fair proportion of points when he was able to get a foothold in the point, the accuracy and power of Kyrgios’ serve made it very difficult for Broady to create any sustained pressure.
Kyrgios ramped up his first serve up to a blistering 141mph in holding the set, with that early break again proving crucial as he repeated the first set 6-4 scoreline.
It looked like deja vu all over again when Kyrgios took the first two points of the third set, but Broady was able to regroup and a delightful forehand crosscourt winner put the Manchester-based left hander on the board in the third set.
Broady was starting to return more of the Kyrgios serves, as the Australian just struggled slightly to find the very corners of the service box and three winners in a row – the first when returning another underhand serve, allowed Broady to bring up a breakpoint as Kyrgios showed the tension he was feeling despite his two set lead.
Kyrgios roared his delight as a Broady service return floated long and was equally animated as he drew back on level terms.
The set’s third game ultimately decided the contest with fortune favouring the Canberra hotshot. Broady brought up a game point with patient approach play but couldn’t seal the deal and Kyrgios was able to earn a breakpoint.
Broady looked set to escape the danger when a strong approach shot saw him waiting at the net to put away Kyrgios’ desperate lunge, but the Australian’s shot clipped the net and rebounded wildly over Broady’s head as the Brit could only throw a despairing racquet at the ball and watch it bounce out.
Kyrgios knew that he’d got lucky and was duly apologetic to Broady but he never looked back, dropping only two more points on serve and when a Broady backhand volley hit the net the Australian crowd roared their excitement at the arrival of a match point.
Broady found a first serve on match-point but a brilliant backhand return from Kyrgios brought the Arena crowd to their feet again as he took the third set 6-3 and with it the match.
Liam Broady acquitted himself confidently in a bearpit atmosphere and won the respect of the Melbourne crowd who applauded him warmly as he left the arena leaving Kyrgios to take the further acclaim of his adoring fans who will hope to be back to see him take on Number two seed Daniil Medvedev in the next round