With a 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 victory over second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas at the ATP 500 event in Halle on Wednesday afternoon, Australian Nick Kyrgios overcame second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
After a great effort in the second set to tie the match, the World No. 65 grabbed a critical break late in the deciding set to secure a quarter-final berth on his tournament debut. Despite hitting less victories (32 winners, including 9 aces) than Tsitsipas (39 winners, including 18 aces), the Australian held on to win the two-hour, five-minute match and accomplish his largest win by Pepperstone ATP Ranking since defeating the same opponent at the 2020 ATP Cup.
“Stef is one of the best players in the world at the moment and he’s going to have some amazing results and I’m sure many, many Grand Slams,” said Kyrgios after the match. “I don’t know if I can say the same for me, but I’m happy to still be able to produce this level with the tournaments I play. It is a testament to how hard I do work when I’m not playing. I’m just super excited to move on as well, I want to keep having these big wins on the best courts in the world.”
Kyrgios is now ranked No. 52 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings after his victory. He is expected to return to the world's Top 50 for the first time since March 2021 if he wins in Halle.