Australian Open 2018: Nick Kyrgios cruises into second round with win over Rogerio Dutra Silva
Nick Kyrgios put a dominant display in his first round match at Australian Open 2018 with an easy win over Brazil's Rogerio Dutra Silva, closing out the match in just 87 minutes with the scoreline reading 6-1 6-2 6-4 in favour of the Australian.
Kyrgios looked sharp on the court and overwhelmed Silva with the pace of his strokes. He fired 16 aces in the match and faced just two break points, which again he saved keeping his serve intact. He was equally good with his returns, making 76 percent of them and broke the Brazilian's serve five times.
Coming off from a solid performance and an eventual title at the warm-up tournament in Brisbane, the crowd favourite has raised hopes for a first native men's singles champion at Melbourne since Mark Edmondson in 1976.
"I was very nervous coming out here, first match at the Australian Open," Kyrgios said. "I didn't think I played as well as Brisbane but hopefully I continue to improve and find my feet out here."
He added, "A couple of years ago I made the quarter-finals here and I'm just trying to emulate that and maybe go a little bit further."
There was a small outburst from the 17th seed during the first set where he criticized chair umpire Fergus Murphy for not taking action against an unruly viewer from the crowd and an argument ensued between the two at the change of ends.
However, the rest was composed and clinical from the Australian who now awaits World No. 65 Viktor Troicki for his second round match. He won their only previous meeting, last year at Montreal Masters.
"I know what he's going to bring. He's a tough competitor. He plays well in Grand Slams. I'm not going to think about it too much,'' said Kyrgios.