If there’s a silver lining in Thanasi Kokkinakis’ semi-final defeat on the Adelaide International, it’s that he would possibly take pleasure in better success on the Australian Open consequently.
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 consequence halted a fascinating run by the 26-year-old that included a win over world No.6 Andrey Rublev, along with his massive 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 preferrred.
After holding aloft his maiden ATP Tour trophy after Saturday evening’s remaining final 12 months, Kokkinakis needed to hotfoot it to Melbourne on Sunday then misplaced his first-round match in opposition to German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann on Monday.
While annoyed to bow out in Adelaide after he bettered the veteran Spaniard in most statistics, Kokkinakis could have the posh of three days to arrange for Tuesday’s first-round encounter with Italian world No.57 Fabio Fognini.
“Hopefully I can use those days to an advantage,” Kokkinakis stated.
“It’s hard playing every day … I’ve had some battles against good players.
“I’ll use (those) days wisely, get used to the conditions in Melbourne and give it a red-hot crack there.
“Coming from (Adelaide) to the Aussie Open last time, (the courts) were a lot slower, so it took a bit to get used to conditions, but now I’ve got a couple days, so hopefully I can acclimatise and play some good ball.”
Kokkinakis, presently ranked No.110 on this planet, displayed admirable dare and depth to defeat countryman Alexei Popyrin (ranked 113), Rublev (6) and Miomir Kecmanovic (28) on his strategy 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 12 months.
“We’ll play, but if I told you I think we’re going to defend the title I’d be lying,” Kokkinakis stated.
“We only thought about winning it (last year), to be honest, pretty much in the quarters onwards when we were both out of singles.
“We’re going to try and do as well as we can in singles, doubles is a bonus, hopefully our bodies hold up.
“I wasn’t coming into this year thinking I’ve got to defend my doubles title.
“I wasn’t expecting to achieve much in doubles, I don’t feel like I need to do anything more in doubles, I want to build my singles career.”
Originally revealed as Star admits harsh fact about Special Ks’ Aus Open title defence
