With an assist from Mohamed Lahyani, it will be Roger Federer vs. Nick Kyrgios on Saturday at the U.S. Open.
Kyrgios controversially survived his second-round match on Thursday, setting up a blockbuster battle that marks the fourth between these two competitors. To say the head-to-head series has not disappointed thus far would be a gross understatement. In fact, it generally produces some of the most entertaining tennis this sport has to offer.
All three of their previous encounters have required decisive third-set tiebreakers and an incredible eight of nine sets have resulted in ‘breakers. Kyrgios pulled off a 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 7-6(12) upset at the 2015 Madrid Masters, Federer prevailed 7-6(9), 6-7(9), 7-6(5) last spring in Miami, and the Swiss scored a 6-7(2), 6-2, 7-6(5) victory earlier this summer in Stuttgart.
This highly anticipated reinstallment of the rivalry almost didn’t happen. Kyrgios trailed Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4, 3-0 in the second round before Lahyani implored the Aussie to stop giving tennis a bad look and start trying. Kyrgios obliged, dominating the rest of the match for a 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-3, 6-0 win. The world No. 30, who preceded that performance with a four-set defeat of Radu Albot, is a now a solid but abbreviated 23-10 for what his been another injury-plagued campaign.
Federer knows a repeat of Thursday’s incident is not in the cards for Saturday.
“You think it’s going to happen again? It will not happen twice in a row,” Federer commented.
Kyrgios agrees. “I’m going to compete my ass off,” he told the crowd after beating Herbert.
He’ll have to if he wants a realistic shot at ousting Federer, who has advanced with straight-set victories over Yoshihito Nishioka and Benoit Paire. The five-time U.S. Open champion is now 6-1 on hard courts this summer with a loss only to Novak Djokovic in the Cincinnati final.
“Yeah, it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Kyrgios assured. “I definitely know that I won’t be the favorite, (or) the crowd favorite here…. I do believe I can beat him. I have done it before. It’s going to be a lot of fun. I’m going to be looking forward to it.”
Obviously, this should be a good one. Kyrgios is a different player–and more importantly different person–on any kind of big stage than he is against an unseeded opponent on Court 17, and it does not get any bigger than going up against Federer in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Even when motivated, however, the 23-year-old remains inconsistent. Look for Federer to take advantage of some ill-time lapses and cross the finish line before another final-set ‘breaker is necessary.
Pick: Federer in 4
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