If there’s a silver lining in Thanasi Kokkinakis’ semi-final defeat on the Adelaide Worldwide, it’s that he may get pleasure from better success on the Australian Open because of this.
The hometown hero’s impressed title defence got here to an finish with a courageous three-set loss to world No.26 Roberto Bautista Agut at a packed Memorial Drive on Friday evening.
The end result halted a charming run by the 26-year-old that included a win over world No.6 Andrey Rublev, along with his huge serving, highly effective groundstrokes and aggressive method absorbing to look at.
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As a lot as Kokkinakis adores his hometown event, its proximity to his residence Grand Slam that kicks off at Melbourne Park on Monday isn’t splendid.
After holding aloft his maiden ATP Tour trophy after Saturday evening’s remaining final yr, Kokkinakis needed to hotfoot it to Melbourne on Sunday then misplaced his first-round match in opposition to German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann on Monday.
Whereas annoyed to bow out in Adelaide after he bettered the veteran Spaniard in most statistics, Kokkinakis could have the luxurious of three days to organize for Tuesday’s first-round encounter with Italian world No.57 Fabio Fognini.
“Hopefully I can use these days to a bonus,” Kokkinakis stated.
“It’s arduous taking part in on daily basis … I’ve had some battles in opposition to good gamers.
“I’ll use (these) days correctly, get used to the situations in Melbourne and provides it a red-hot crack there.
“Coming from (Adelaide) to the Aussie Open final time, (the courts) had been rather a lot slower, so it took a bit to get used to situations, however now I’ve acquired a pair days, so hopefully I can acclimatise and play some good ball.”
Kokkinakis, at the moment ranked No.110 on the planet, displayed admirable dare and depth to defeat countryman Alexei Popyrin (ranked 113), Rublev (6) and Miomir Kecmanovic (28) on his solution to the semi-final in Adelaide.
His intent is to duplicate that type to progress within the singles attract Melbourne, however he can even renew his partnership with good mate Nick Kyrgios, who he gained a shock Australian Open doubles title with final yr.
“We’ll play, but when I advised you I feel we’re going to defend the title I’d be mendacity,” Kokkinakis stated.
“We solely considered profitable it (final yr), to be trustworthy, just about within the quarters onwards after we had been each out of singles.
“We’re going to try to do in addition to we are able to in singles, doubles is a bonus, hopefully our our bodies maintain up.
“I wasn’t coming into this yr considering I’ve acquired to defend my doubles title.
“I wasn’t anticipating to realize a lot in doubles, I don’t really feel like I have to do something extra in doubles, I need to construct my singles profession.”
Initially revealed as Star admits harsh fact about Particular Ks’ Aus Open title defence
