'I had to be locked in' - Nick Kyrgios dominates on serve to beat Tommy Paul and reach ATP Houston quarters

Nick Kyrgios is into the quarter-finals of the The U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship for the first time since 2018 after defeating Tommy Paul 6-4 6-2. The Australian overcame the American who is no stranger to clay, having won the 2015 French Open boys’ singles title, in 70 minutes.

Ad/> He will face another American — Michael Mmoh — in the next round of the ATP 250 competition after registering back-to-back wins. TennisRaducanu better for promoting tennis than Kyrgios — HuberA DAY AGO Kyrgios, who has opted to skip this year’s European clay court swing including the French Open, had not competed on clay since 2019 but he says his win over Paul was one of his best on the surface in his career. «He is a very good player,” the 26-year-old said in his on-court interview after the match.

»He is young and he has already shown what he can do and who he can beat. I had to be locked in today, I knew that I had to serve well. «Probably one of the better matches I have played on clay in my career.

I'm pretty happy with the way I came out here today, head down and went to work.» Kyrgios’ serve was his key to victory over Paul. He won 88 per cent of his first serve points and slammed down 10 aces. The decisive break in the first set came in the fifth game.

In the second, Kyrgios broke Paul’s serve in the opening game before doing so again to take a 5-2 lead. He won the match on his serve on his first match point. /> Kyrgios knew his serve was ultimately what steered him to victory.