Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios made a winning debut as a doubles pair after beating Alexander Erler and Andreas Mies 6-4 6-7 (4) 10-8 at the Brisbane International.
Although it was a tight battle, the 2022 Wimbledon singles finalists looked like the better duo as they didn’t face a single break point – all while creating six break points for themselves.
But after breaking Erler and Mies in the 10th game of the first set to clinch the opener, Djokovic and Kyrgios missed out on a total of three break points across two games early in the second set.
And they paid the price for that as the Austrian/German duo managed to force a tie-break and win it to send the clash into a match tie-break.
However, the Serb and the Australian didn’t panic as they won three consecutive points to open a 5-2 lead before ultimately going 9-6 up and sealing the win after converting their third match point.Now, Djokovic and Kyrgios are set to meet No. 1 seeds Nikola Mektic and Michael Venus in the Brisbane quarterfinal.
“I want to thank Nick for playing. He said the other day it should be a pleasure to play with him and it is!
“I’m glad to share the court with him on his comeback. I haven’t played many doubles matches, so whatever Nick was saying I was following.”
Meanwhile, the Australian observed: “I was surprised he doubted himself a little bit in some moments and I was like ‘brother, you’re the greatest of all time, go for it, do what you have to do.'”
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Also, Kyrgios shared that he and Djokovic had a deal in place that they wouldn’t retire before teaming up at least once.
“We promised we were going to do this one time before he goes or I go,” the 29-year-old said.
