The Nick Kyrgios experience was in full effect at the Washington Open as he survived a match point to defeat top seed Stefanos Tsitipas and advance to the final.
Kyrgios hammed it up by delivering a repaired sneaker to his opponent, celebrated one key shot with a shimmy and marked the final point by seeking out the advice of a fan for where to direct his serve, for the second night in row.
The 24-year-old also played brilliantly for the majority of the 6-4 3-6 7-6 (9-7) semi-final victory which improved his record against top 10 players to 4-1 this year.
He will supplant Alex de Minaur as Australia’s highest-ranked male once again when the updated rankings are released on Monday, just three weeks before the US Open.
Kyrgios, who served 19 aces against Tsitsipas, will seek his sixth ATP title on Sunday and second of the year when he faces third-seeded Daniil Medvedev, who outplayed Peter Gojowczyk 6-2 6-2 in the second semi-final.
The first career meeting between Kyrgios, who will jump up the rankings to at least world No.34 on Monday, and Stefanos Tsitsipas, who will rise to fifth, lived up to the hype with the crowd served up some breathtaking shot making in the two hours and seven minute showdown.
Each man won 91 points. Each won 48 of his 58 first-serve points; each won 16 of his 33 second-serve points.
“Nick, in my opinion, is underrated. I guess the rivalry between me and him, it looks bright,” Tsitsipas said.
“I’m pretty sure we’re going to face each other plenty of times in the future.”
The mercurial Kyrgios put on a show for the sell-out crowd in Washington including outrageous winners, fist bumping with fans during the first set, working in several tweeners, a second-set meltdown when leading by a break, an ill-advised underhanded serve and some slick no-look volleys in a wildly entertaining victory.
In the third set, the shoe issues that have been plaguing Tsitsipas cropped up again to create a comical scene in which Kyrgios retrieved his opponent’s footwear from the stands and carried them across the court to his opponent.
Kyrgios presented them on bended knee, with head bowed, as Tsitipas smiled – to the delight of the crowd.
“Some people love him. Some people hate him. I believe we need people like him in the game,” Tsitsipas said.
“Otherwise, everything becomes too serious. He’s fun.”
The concluding tiebreaker was a roller coaster.
Kyrgios led 5-2 but Tsitsipas fought back to lead 6-5 and grab a match point, which was erased when he couldn’t handle another booming serve from the Australian.
On Kyrgios’s second match point, he followed a fan’s tip to serve to the Greek’s backhand and closed out the victory before shaking the man’s hand and then embracing Tsitsipas at the net and telling him, “Thanks bro, I’ll see you in Montreal.”