"I'm not going to tell you what Cos thinks about Cincinnati" - Nick Kyrgios on being asked if he & his girlfriend Costeen Hatzi are enjoying Cincinnati
Nick Kyrgios continued his first-round dominance on Tuesday by winning his opening match at the Western & Southern Open against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-5, 6-4.
Kyrgios, who now has a 31-8 win-loss record for the season, broke the 37th-ranked Spaniard thrice, while saving four break points. The World No. 28 produced 10 aces and 32 winners, compared to Davidovich Fokina's three aces and 19 winners in the two sets that lasted 90 minutes.
Kyrgios seemed extremely relaxed after completing the match. He was seen poking fun at the host city of Cincinnati, saying that there was nothing much to do off the court for him and his girlfriend Costeen Hatzi.
The 2022 Wimbledon losing-finalist also revealed that he lost his phone a day earlier at Kings Island, an amusement park in Ohio.
"Well, I'm not going to tell you what Cos (his girlfriend Costeen Hatzi) thinks about Cincinnati," Kyrgios said. "I've played some best tennis here and I really like it. It's actually good that there's not much to do off the court, which makes me stay in and get a good rest. I went to Kings Island yesterday and lost my phone already. I was on a roller coaster and checked my pocket, gone."
@NickKyrgios
Another win 👉 @NickKyrgios
#CincyTennis https://t.co/UReZhJpa7u
The Cincinnati Open is the only ATP Masters 1000 tournament where Nick Kyrgios has reached a final; the Aussie lost to Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov in the 2017 summit clash. At the Canadian Open last week, Hubert Hurkacz broke Kyrgios's nine-match winning streak, beating him 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 6-1 in the quarters.
Nick Kyrgios takes on Taylor Fritz in the Cincinnati Open 2R
In the second round of the Cincinnati Masters, Nick Kyrgios is set to square off against Taylor Fritz for the first time in his career. Fritz outclassed Argentina's Sebastian Baez 6-1, 6-1 in his opening match.
In an on-court interview after his first match, Kyrgios stated that he was friends with Fritz and that he was looking forward to playing him.
"Fritzy is a good mate of mine. We've represented Team World together at the Laver Cup. We talk a lot about matches, to be honest. He's just a good all-around player, he's got a huge serve. He likes to play on the front foot, similar to myself. It's going to be a lot of big serving, so we'll see how it goes," Kyrgios said.
Who would love to be a 🪰 on the wall during a tactical discussion between @NickKyrgios and @Taylor_Fritz97?
#CincyTennis https://t.co/LwIYqHSWSM
Fritz also expressed his excitement at facing the Australian, saying that since both have been playing good tennis recently, their match would be a "high-level" one.
"Yeah, we have both been on the tour for quite a while but Nick and I have never played each other somehow. We're good friends and we've both been playing really good tennis. lately. Hopefully, it's going to be a pretty high-level match," Fritz said.