Ruusuvuori upsets Hurkacz in Washington, D.C., Kyrgios wins again

Hubert Hurkacz lost his opening match of the summer hard-court swing when he fell to Emil Ruusuvuori 6-4, 7-6(3) on Wednesday afternoon. Ruusuvuori fought off all four of the break points he faced to prevail in one hour and 44 minutes.

The match’s lone break came with Hurkacz serving at 2-2 in the first set. Both plays held the entire way in set two, although Ruusuvuori had to save a trio of break points at 3-2. The ensuing tiebreaker was on serve until 4-3, when the underdog collected two consecutive mini-breaks to all but clinch victory.

“I just was able to hang in there in the first couple games,” Ruusuvuori reflected. “He had an early break point, but then I was able to keep that service game and give myself a chance to break him and I was able to use it and then just try to keep my own serve. I didn’t have many chances until the (second-set) tiebreaker and then I got a look at a couple second serves and (made) a couple deep returns, so that gave me the chance.

“I just tried to hang in there and tried to stay as tough as [I could]. Long rallies really drain you and you start to feel dizzy during the points, so (it was) very tough. But it’s a part of the game during this period of the year.”

As usual, Nick Kyrgios is loving this time of year. The Wimbledon runner-up is coming off a doubles title in Atlanta–where he triumphed in singles six years ago–and so far in Washington, D.C. he has taken out Marcos Giron and Tommy Paul in straight sets. The 27-year-old Australian trounced Paul 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday night.

Kyrgios, who won this event in 2019, will face a third straight American in Reilly Opelka when they collide in the third round on Thursday.