After claiming the scalp of 21st seed Mikhail Youzhny in his first match on Tuesday morning, how far can Nick Kyrgios go at this year’s US Open?
The 19-year-old rising force returned to the Grand Slam scene for the first time since reaching the quarter-finals of the Wimbledon Championships in July, during which he claimed the scalp of then-world number one Rafael Nadal.
It was that stunning run to the final eight which saw him enter the world’s top 100 for the first time, and now questions will be asked about whether he can emulate a similar run in New York to continue his meteoric rankings rise.
He entered the year’s final Grand Slam lacking any real match practice, having gone down to Andy Murray at the Rogers Cup in Toronto and having skipped Cincinnati due to injury.
This followed a return home to Canberra to a hero’s welcome after his magical run at the All England Club. It was then he stopped working with coach Simon Rea, who now manages Samantha Stosur.
When the draw for the US Open was released last Friday, he was drawn against one of world tennis’ elder statesmen in the form of Russia’s 32-year-old Mikhail Youzhny in the first round.
While he may have never won a Grand Slam title, let alone reached a final at this level, Youzhny is best known for reaching the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows twice, including defeating Nadal in the 2006 quarter-finals.
Additionally, he came from behind to defeat Lleyton Hewitt in a thrilling five-setter in the fourth round last year before ultimately succumbing to world number one Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals.
Seeded, Youzhny presented a real challenge – even at the age of 32. However, the young Australian made a mockery of the 13-year difference in experience, and exacted some Australian revenge for Hewitt, by defeating him in four sets to move onto the second round.
It almost didn’t happen, however, after Kyrgios was on the brink of disqualification after being cautioned three times and having a game taken off him by the umpire for a few indiscretions, including dropping obscenities, which he put down to being “in the heat of the moment”.
Expectations on Kyrgios will start to rise as he climbs the rankings, and there is every chance that he could overtake Hewitt, who opens his US Open campaign against the Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych on Thursday morning (AEST), as Australia’s top-ranked player.
Kyrgios is currently ranked 60th, two places down from his career-high of 58th achieved only a fortnight ago, while Hewitt is ranked just outside the top 40.
The sticking point is that Hewitt must defend a fourth-round appearance from last year, when he fell to Youzhny in the aforementioned match after knocking out sixth seed Juan Martin del Potro in the second round.
Kyrgios, by contrast, lost to David Ferrer in the first round last year after successfully navigating through qualifying. This year’s US Open is his first direct entry into a Grand Slam tournament after having had to rely on wildcards in four of his previous five tournaments at this level.
He next meets Italy’s Andreas Seppi in the second round in what shapes as another winnable match for the 19-year-old. However, he will be aware of the fact that Seppi saved a match point to just edge out Hewitt in the first round of this year’s Australian Open, and whose career high ranking of 18 was achieved just over 18 months ago.
Seppi, now ranked 49, defeated Sergiy Stakhovsky in his first round match to earn his shot at Kyrgios in the second round. The winner of this tie will most likely meet Spain’s Tommy Robredo in the third round, with Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka likely to await in the round of 16.
It was a successful day for the other Australian man in action on day one, with Matt Ebden defeating Germany’s Tobias Kamke in straight sets to earn a shot at 23rd seed Leonardo Mayer in the second round.
On the women’s side, Anastasia Rodionova defeated Italy’s Camila Giorgi in three sets and next faces another Italian, Sara Errani, in the second round with seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams likely to await in the third.
Samantha Stosur is still to play her first-round match against young and promising American Lauren Davis, while Croatian-born Ajla Tomljanovic makes her Australian debut against Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro also overnight.
You may be thinking, “Who is Ajla Tomljanovic?”
Well, she’s the player who upset Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska in the third round of this year’s French Open, and whose career high ranking is 51, achieved after reaching the round of 16 at that same tournament.
During that run she also defeated former champion Francesca Schiavone and 32nd seed Elena Vesnina in the second round. Additionally, she ran Sloane Stephens close in the second round of this year’s Australian Open before losing in three sets.
She has been coached by David Taylor, who guided Stosur to US Open glory three years ago, since late last year. The pair established the coaching partnership after Stosur split from Taylor twelve months ago.
Her first round match against Suarez Navarro is a rematch of that fourth-round match from Roland Garros, which the Spaniard won to progress to the quarter-finals where she later lost to Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard in three sets.
She is the latest player to defect Down Under, joining the likes of Jarmila Gajdosova, Anastasia Rodionova, and Jelena Dokic, who between 2003 and 2005 played under the Serbia and Montenegro flag before resuming Australian citizenship in 2006.
Tomljanovic has cited the improved facilities at Melbourne Park as being behind her decision. She will base herself in Brisbane, and could become a drawcard if she decides to enter that city’s International this January.
Meanwhile, as expected, the world’s leading names of Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Maria Sharapova progressed to Round 2, the latter reeling off ten games in a row to send compatriot Maria Kirilenko packing.
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