Local favourites Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis booked their place in the men’s doubles final at the Australian Open 2022 after defeating third-seeded pair Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 7-6 (4), 6-4 at Melbourne Park on Thursday. (More Tennis News)
It’s going to be an all-Australian men’s double final on Saturday at Melbourne Park after Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell beat the second-seeded team of Rajeev Ram of the United States and Joe Salisbury of Britain 6-3, 7-6 (9) on an adjoining near-empty Margaret Court Arena.
Emotions and Kyrgios are synonymous and Thursday wasn’t any different. After facing two break points against his serve, the 26-year-old Kyrgios was furious late in the second set and argued with the umpire about the net cord censor.
He also let out some swearwords at himself and urged the crowd to stop talking during serves, before smashing a racquet when he dropped the game. “It's all about the crowd, the atmosphere, that gets us going and we worry about the tennis second,” Kokkinakis said.
“It brings the best out of us and I don't know if we would have got this result anywhere else. I think both of us bring something different, different energy, different sort of charisma on the court, but we just enjoy it and have fun,” he added.
Speaking about the opponents in the final, Kyrgios said, “Those two are great doubles players and we’re not going to take them lightly.” Meanwhile, former Australia captain and legendary figure Steve Waugh watched the encounter from the front row.
