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The second round of the US Open continues with Australian Nick Kyrgios looking to make light work of Argentinian world No.71 Horacio Zeballos on the Grandstand court. Join The Roar for live scores from around 7:30am (AEST).
Kyrgios, as always, has had a colourful build-up to the final Grand Slam of the season, stating he would retire if he won the event after missing the Davis Cup and Olympics Games due to his ongoing feud with Tennis Australia.
None of that seemed to matter when he stepped on court for his first round match though, as he dismantled world No.77 Alijaz Bedene in straight sets.
It was a dominant performance from Kyrgios, taking a break in each set to win 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. While he could have made the scoreboard look better and got off court quicker, it is what we have come to expect from Kyrgios.
Still, he played some wonderful tennis and looks to be in a good position for a deep run into the tournament, particularly given he won’t come up against a seeded player until the fourth round – likely Stan Wawrinka.
It’s also worth noting that Kyrgios was in some strong form during the lead-up to the tournament, winning in Atlanta as he got the better of big-serving John Isner in the final.
Zeballos didn’t struggle in the lead-up, but it certainly wasn’t fantastic tennis on his part and it leaves him in a position of needing major improvement if he is going to compete with Kyrgios.
He did make it to the quarter-finals in Atlanta, but didn’t get to take on any high-profile players before he was bundled out in the second round at Los Cabos.
In the first round of the US Open, he took on Florian Mayer and had a strong straight-sets victory, holding his nerve to race through a third set tie-breaker which can only paint a positive picture moving forward.
Zeballos often wins points if he gets his first serve in, but only just cleared 50 per cent against Mayer and will need to win plenty of cheap points to compete with the Aussie.
The pair have never previously matched up and the winner will play either Illya Marchenko or Damir Dzumhur in the third round.
Prediction
Kyrgios won’t have too many problems here if he gets off to a decent start.
Kyrgios in straight sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this second round match from around 7:30am (AEST), following the completion of Samantha Stosur versus Shuai Zheng, and don’t forget to drop a comment in the box below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde