By Chris Oddo | Wednesday April 11, 2018
Nick Kyrgios is hoping for wins at this week’s U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships in Houston—but most of all he’s hoping for good health. Out with an elbow and back injury since early February, Kyrgios returned to the ATP Tour at Miami and reached the round of 16 before bowing out to Alexander Zverev. He’s hoping to build on that performance this week at River Oaks, and so far he’s on the right path.
Daily Fuzz: Sign up for the Tennis Now Mailing List and Win Free Prizes
The 22-year-old World No.24 rallied from a set down to take out American Bjorn Fratangelo, 6-7(2), 6-1, 6-2, and set up a clash with Ivo Karlovic.
Karlovic moved past American qualifier Denis Kudla, 7-5, 7-5.
Kyrgios cracked 22 aces and saved both break points he faced to improve to 11-3 on the season. After dropping the opening set in a tiebreaker, Kyrgios took control. He won 11 of 14 second-serve return points in sets two and three and broke Fratangelo’s serve four times on five opportunities to finish the contest in one hour and 32 minutes.
In other second-round action on Wednesday at River Oaks, No.2-seeded Sam Querrey was bounced by Argentina’s Guido Pella, 2-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(3), while Tennys Sandgren defeated Nicolas Kicker, 6-2, 7-6(3).