Two of the ATP Tour's great entertainers did what they do best on Friday night in the Citi Open quarter-finals. Nick Kyrgios and Frances Tiafoe put on a late-night show in one of the matches of the season.
Kyrgios saved five match points in a high-octane second-set tie-break.
He gathered himself, leaned on his biggest weapon — his serve — and put his racket in the right place at the right time.
“That’s all I did, I put myself in a position to stay in the match and I felt my experience — he was getting the crowd up and involved early on, might have wasted a little bit of energy early, and it’s tough conditions out here,” Kyrgios said. “It really weighs on you, you lose a lot of fluids out here, and my serve at the end kicked up to another gear. I felt like I had fresh legs at the end, Serving 130 [mph] in these conditions is pretty helpful.”
Helpful? Only if you consider serving 35 aces an additive.
Aside from his serve, Kyrgios attributed an aloof mind-set to his ability to pull out the match. Tiafoe was playing in the first Citi Open quarterfinal of his career with all the support and pressure that comes with playing in front of a hometown crowd.
Kyrgios said afterward he never minds losing to a player he respects — “At the end of the day, if I lose, I lose, I’m going to shake that person’s hand and say, ‘Too good.’ ”