Kyrgios Returns to Competition at UTS New York at Forest Hills – Tennis Panorama

QUEENS, NY (August 22, 2024) The UTS New York by Builder.ai semifinalists were decided on Thursday at Forest Hills Stadium in New York, with a day filled with brilliant tennis.  Nick Kyrgios set a date against Gael Monfils while Alex de Minaur (1) advanced to play Alexander Bublik on Friday.

With four quarter-finalists making their UTS debut, the standout performance of the day was by Kyrgios, who thrashed World No.8 Casper Ruud (2) three quarters to love in his first singles match of the year.

Kyrgios had played just three matches since making the US Open quarterfinals in 2022, but the Australian brought a high-level in the second match of the day.

“I wasn’t expecting to play this well at all,” said Kyrgios in response to the 17-8, 21-9, 15-11 victory over Ruud. “Coming out here and still having that level, it’s amazing. What a way to come back.”

In a rare show of emotions, bad-boy Kyrgios shared that his return to tennis in New York left him emotional on Thursday.

Kyrgios emotional about New York comeback

“Obviously pretty emotional, it’s been a brutal 11 months,” Kyrgios confessed in his on-court interview, before revealing that he doubted whether he would ever return to the game at times over the last year. “I didn’t know if I was going to play tennis again with the state of my wrist. It was literally conversations of never playing again.”

The Australian declared that he was “surprised, but not that surprised” at his level at UTS New York by Builder.ai, and is pleased with how his wrist held up in his first match of the year.

“I’ve been putting in some serious work, every single day back home,” he said. “Casper’s probably one of the best players in the world, so one of the best ways to test my wrist. Let’s see if we can string a couple of matches together.”

Fellow Australian De Minaur also started well in New York, sweeping Denis “Shapo” Shapovalov 3-0 and for the year-end final in London, guaranteeing he will finish in the top three of the UTS Race this year. 

Stefanos “El Greco” Tsitsipas (4) wasn’t so lucky, with the former World No.3 losing in sudden death to Bublik, who became the second man in UTS history to steal a quarter, while Monfils stunned two-time champion Andrey “Rublo” Rublev (3) in the biggest upset of the day.

Bublik’s “most nervous match” in career

Bublik also produced some amazing tennis on Thursday, with the UTS veteran putting on a clutch display of serving against Tsitsipas.

With the pair winning two quarters each, the third quarter-final of the day headed to sudden death. What resulted was a UTS-record: the longest-ever sudden death decider.

To determine a winner, one player simply had to win two points in a row. It took a total of seven match points for The Bublik Enemy to be crowned the winner, with the Kazakh prevailing 5-3 over Tsitsipas thanks to some audacious serving.

“The most nervous match I’ve ever played in my life,” he said after winning the match. 

“This was crazy, it was a rollercoaster. So tense. I’ve played some big finals in my life, but nothing like this.

“The sudden death killed me, it took five years off my life.”

“I don’t know why – it’s not an official Tour match, there’s no points on the line, but for me, I feel such a need to win in this format.

“I felt more tension in this match than when I was serving for the Halle final.”

Bublik also became just the second player in the UTS history to steal a quarter. He went on a red-hot seven-point winning streak, coming back from 17-11 to force quarter-point at 17-15, and then win it 18-17.

UTS New York – results summary

Here’s how all of Thursday’s quarterfinals unfolded:

●      De Minaur (1) beat Shapovalov: 3-0 (17-16, 19-13, 19-13)

●      Kyrgios beat Ruud (2): 3-0 (17-8, 21-9, 15-11)

●      Bublik beat Tsitsipas (4): 3-2 (20-12, 11-17, 18-17, 10-20, 5-3)

●      Monfils beat Rublev (3): 3-0 (19-12, 15-10, 18-14)

Two semifinals and two classification matches will be played at UTS New York on Friday, with play beginning at 4pm. 

Here’s a look at Friday’s schedule:

●      4pm – Ruud vs Shapovalov (classification)

●      5pm – Tsitsipas vs Rublev (classification)

●      6pm – Kyrgios vs Monfils (semi-final)

●      7pm – De Minaur vs Bublik (semi-final)

●      8:30pm – UTS New York final

REMINDER OF UTS FORMAT

> 4 quarters of 8 minutes each 

> Less time (15 seconds) between points

> No second serve 

> Unlimited coaching from the sidelines 

> Player interviews between the quarters

> Strategic use of bonus cards by players