A focused Nick Kyrgios looms as a danger at the US Open after capping off a sensational week at the Washington Open by securing his second ATP Tour 500 series title of the year.
Despite a troublesome back, Kyrgios fired 18 aces on his way to a 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-4) victory over Russian third seed Daniil Medvedev in Sunday’s final.
Kyrgios backed up his semi-final victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas with a second career win over Medvedev – the result improving his win-loss record against top-10 opponents this year to 5-1, with a winning percentage of 83 the best on tour in 2019.
“It’s amazing. Where I was six months ago, some of the things I was doing, I was just putting myself in a really tough situation and to respond like this, having incredible support, it’s amazing,” Kyrgios said in his post-match interview on court.
“I’ve had people behind me, backing me and never lost faith in me, even though I lost it in myself.”
The 24-year-old will pocket $365,390 ($A537,830) for his sixth ATP tournament success.
More importantly he will rise 25 spots to world No.27 when the rankings are updated on Monday and is in line for a seeding at the year’s final grand slam later this month.
Although he seemed to care little about that.
“It’s important (but) at the end of the day I don’t care about rankings at all,” Kyrgios said.
“I just want to grow as a person, as a human, and if that comes along tennis will come with it.
“Just small habits every day, trying to get better.”
Kyrgios arrived in Washington with a record of 13-10 for the year and has only made it past the round of 16 at two tournaments – winning them both.
Neither Kyrgios nor Medvedev faced a break point as serve dominated their 97-minute encounter with the Australian taking advantage of some unforced errors from his opponent in the tiebreakers.
For the third match in a row, Kyrgios requested advice from a member of the crowd on where to direct his serve on match point.
And for the third match in a row the tactic was successful – this time closing it out with his 111th ace of the week.