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More Kokkinakis magic? Home star wins Adelaide battle

Shapovalov ousts Zhang
January 06, 2025
Thanasi Kokkinakis defeats Yoshihito Nishioka in three sets on Monday evening in Adelaide.
Andrew Eichenholz/ATP Tour
Thanasi Kokkinakis defeats Yoshihito Nishioka in three sets on Monday evening in Adelaide. By ATP Staff

Will Thanasi Kokkinakis find more magic at the Adelaide International this week?

The local favourite won his lone ATP Tour title at Memorial Drive in 2022 and made a good start towards another on Monday evening. Kokkinakis battled past Yoshihito Nishioka 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in two hours and 10 minutes to reach the second round of the ATP 250 event, buoyed by the support of his home fans.

“Match aside, just walking out here kind of gets me emotional, to be honest. It’s crazy,” Kokkinakis told ATPTour.com. “It's pretty surreal to think a place where you grew up playing and and training so many hours, you come out here and all these people are coming to watch you. So that kind of hit home a little bit when I was walking out there.

“I was honestly almost a little bit teary eyed when I walked out there. I just want to put on a good performance and just try my best out there... The [fans] were incredible.”

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Kokkinakis earned 12 break points in the match, converting three of them according to Infosys ATP Stats. But the Japanese lefty saved all three break points he faced in the second set and took his only opportunity to force a decider.

But like the Australian has made a habit of in Adelaide, he fought back and used the crowd’s energy to his advantage to set a second-round meeting with eighth seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry or Tristan Schoolkate.

“You've got no choice. These guys are here for me to support and to get behind me, and I've got to give them something to cheer about and go home happy,” Kokkinakis said after earning a victory in his first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Nishioka. “I knew it wasn't going to be easy against Yoshi, he's a hell of a player. For a set and a half, I was playing great. Had a lot of break points that one game in the second set, and if I maybe took that, maybe it was a good straight-sets win.

“But sometimes that's tennis. He had one break point, he took it in the second set, and then it was a dogfight. But tennis, I've played enough matches to know how topsy-turvy they are.”

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In other action, former No. 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings Denis Shapovalov ousted ninth seed Zhang Zhizhen 6-3, 6-4. The Canadian won 31 of his 32 first-serve points to advance without facing a break point.

In an all-Spanish encounter, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina defeated Roberto Bautista Agut 7-5, 6-2. Australian Christopher O’Connell eliminated Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech 7-5, 7-6(5).

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