Defending Finalist Kyrgios Throwing Down Aces In Cincy

Aussie Nick Kyrgios avenged a 2016 Western & Southern Open loss to Borna Coric on Wednesday, beating the Croatian in an up-and-down second-round contest 7-6(1), 0-6, 6-3.

The 15^th seed delivered 16 aces and saved six of nine break points against Coric, who now trails Kyrgios 1-2 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

“I knew I was always going to compete in the third set. I competed too hard in the first set to sort of just let the match slip and not compete, give myself a chance to win, at least,” Kyrgios said. “I know that right now I can still serve through these matches, and that’s enough for me to compete and hang with these guys.”

Neither player was broken in the opener but Kyrgios ran away in the tie-break. Coric, however, responded immediately, converting his fourth break point of the opening game to lead 1-0. He broke two more times to even the match.

But Kyrgios, who set a tournament record with 39 aces on Tuesday, was clutch in the decider, converting his lone break point and erasing the only one he faced.

Kyrgios is the defending finalist in Cincinnati (l. to Dimitrov). He will next face 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals champion Hyeon Chung or World No. 3 Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina.