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Nick Kyrgios is through to the second round after defeating Radek Stepanek in 2 hours and 26 minutes.
The young Aussie dominated the first two sets, but Stepanek showed great heart to come back in the third set and win a clutch tiebreak 11-9.
However, it was all Kyrgios in the fourth set, taking out the match in dominant fashion.
Kyrgios will now play Dustin Brown in Round 2.
Final score:
Kyrgios: 6 6 6 (9) 6
Stepanek: 4 3 7 (11) 1
The 15th seed Nick Kyrgios will battle Radek Stepanek at the Wimbledon Championships. Join The Roar from 8:30pm (AEST) for live coverage.
The 21-year-old Australian will kick off his Wimbledon campaign against the 37-year-old veteran Radek Stepanek.
Stepanek enters his 14th Wimbledon tournament ranked No.121 and is coming off a quarter finals finish on grass at the Mercedes Cup in Germany earlier this month.
The Czech also put up a strong showing at Roland Garros last month pushing eventual finalist Andy Murray to five sets in the first round.
The Australian has had just one prep up match on grass, where he suffered a loss to Milos Raonic in three sets at the Aegon Championships two weeks ago.
Kyrgios was promoted to 15th seed despite his No.18 ranking as a reward to his recent success at the All England Club in the past 2 years.
Kyrgios reached the quarter finals in 2014 which included a victory over then No.1 Rafael Nadal, while falling at the fourth round last year to Richard Gasquet, leaving his Wimbledon singles record at 7-2.
Conversely, the veteran Stepanek made the quarter-finals way back in 2006, his best performance and any grand slam over his career. Although Stepanek’s his best days are behind him he will be looking to use his experience and knowledge on court against a fiery Nick Kyrgios.
The pair have met at grand slam level before at Roland Garros 2013, which happened to be Kyrgios’ debut on the main draw of a grand slam, where the Australian won in straight sets.
Prediction
As usual, the pressure is on for Kyrgios to perform, despite of his bad behaviour and many critics, the 21 year old can play some brilliant tennis on grass and will prove to be too good for the veteran Stepanek.
Nick Kyrgios in three sets.
Join The Roar from 8:30pm (AEST) for live coverage from day 2 at the All England Club.
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