Page 22 - AT

A22 SPORTS
Saturday 4 January 2020
Kyrgios serves up

funds for Australia

at debut of ATP Cup

By JOHN PYE and the Australian Open.
AP Sports Writer He said he was lifted by the
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) crowd, and motivated by
— Nick Kyrgios served 20 the plight of people strug-
aces in a win that cost him gling in parts of the coun-
$4,000 in local currency try impacted by the fires,
and helped set up Austra- including his hometown of
lia's opening ATP Cup win Canberra. A tournament
over Germany. had to be relocated from
It was all for a cause. Kyr- the Australian capital to
gios, so often considered Victoria state earlier Friday
the bad boy of tennis for because of poor air quality
his emotional behavior related to the proximity of
and outbursts, promised to the fires.
donate 200 Australian dol- "It's tough," Kyrgios said, Nick Kyrgios of Australia reacts after winning his match against Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany at
lars ($140) for every ace choking back tears and the ATP Cup tennis tournament in Brisbane, Australia, Friday, Jan. 3, 2020.
he serves this month to go wiping his face with his tow- Associated Press
toward the recovery effort el in an on-court interview.
from the wildfires that have "(The money raised) is go- Greece 3-0, with Denis 3-0 after Norway rallied to Fognini 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 in the
devastated parts of Austra- ing to the families, fire fight- Shapovalov holding off No. edge the United States in second singles match.
lia, leaving at least 19 peo- ers, animals, everyone who 6-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas Group D. Taylor Fritz beat In Sydney, Belgium beat
ple dead and 1,400 homes is losing homes, losing fam- 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4) after 19-year- Viktor Durasovic 6-2, 6-2 Moldova 3-0, with Steve
destroyed. ily - it's a real thing. It's big- old Felix Auger-Aliassime to give the Americans the Darcis holding off Alexan-
He opened and closed his ger than tennis, you know. beat Michail Pervolarakis lead and John Isner had der Cozbinov 6-4, 6-7 (4),
6-4, 7-6 (4) win over Jan- "It's tough to go out there in the first singles victory two match points in the 7-5 and David Goffin beat-
Lennard Struff on Friday and concentrate on ten- of the tournament. They second-set tiebreaker of ing Radu Albot 6-4, 6-1.
in Brisbane with booming, nis, to be honest. Every ace the combined to win the the second singles match The Moldova team got a
high-value serves — includ- I was hitting that's all I was doubles. The No. 15-ranked before Casper Ruud rallied formal apology from tour-
ing a second-service ace thinking about. Every time I Shapovalov now has a 3-1 to win 6-7 (3), 7-6 (10), 7-5 nament organizers after
down the middle to close stepped up to the line that's lead in career meetings to level it. Ruud combined the wrong national an-
it out. all I was thinking about." over ATP Finals champion with Durasovic to beat Ra- them was played before
Alex De Minaur followed Canada registered the first Tsitsipas, who was unable jeev Ram and Austin Kra- the match. And just after
that up with an upset over victory of the new interna- to convert his break-point jicek 4-6, 6-3, 10-5 to seal 2:45 a.m. local time, Bul-
No. 7-ranked Alexander tional team tournament, chances in the seventh and Norway's 2-1 win. garia finally beat Britain 2-1
Zverev, trailing a set and and the United States went 11th games of the second "What I need to do is re- when Grigor Dimitrov and
a break before rallying to down in the first major up- set and then had a double- ally just put this match be- No. 477-ranked Alexander
win 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2 on Pat set despite being one fault on match point. hind me as best as I can, Lazarov saved two match
Rafter Arena. Australia also point from clinching a win "He had an unbelievable because at times it wasn't points before finishing off
won the doubles to clinch over Norway. The 24-team end to the season and he's pretty out there," Isner said. a 7-6 (5), 6-7 (2), 11-9 win
a 3-0 sweep of Germany. tournament kicked off the definitely one of the top "So hopefully I can fix some over Jamie Murray and Joe
Kyrgios devised the cash men's tennis season for players in the world right things and try to play a little Salisbury in the deciding
for aces idea earlier in the 2020, with matches Friday now," Shapovalov said. "So bit better on Sunday." doubles match. Dimitrov
week, and inspired other in Brisbane and Sydney on to beat a guy like this first Fifth-ranked Daniil Med- had earlier beaten Dan Ev-
fundraising efforts from Australia's east coast and match of the year, it's really vedev gave Russia an un- ans 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the sec-
other players and from or- Perth in Western Australia special for me." beatable 2-0 lead against ond singles match to pull
ganizers of the ATP Cup state. The Canadians swept In Perth, Russia beat Italy Italy when he beat Fabio Bulgaria level at 1-1.q

Magic say Jonathan Isaac out 2

months, possibly more

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The that surgery may still be an best year of his three-year
Orlando Magic are bracing option. career -- his per-game av-
to be without forward Jon- "While this certainly is disap- erages of 12.0 points, 6.9
athan Isaac for at least two pointing news, there was rebounds, 2.4 blocks, 1.6
months and possibly more, no damage to his ACL, steals and 1.4 assists are all
after tests Thursday showed MCL and PCL ligaments," career-bests.
an injury to the posterior lat- Magic President of Basket- He is one of only two play-
eral corner of his left knee ball Operations Jeff Welt- ers averaging more than
as well as a bone bruise. man said. 2.0 steals and 1.0 blocks
The Magic said Isaac -- who "All signs point to a com- entering Thursday's games.
is off to the best statistical plete recovery and this The other is Anthony Davis
Philadelphia 76ers guard Ben Simmons (25) and Orlando Magic start of his career, particu- should not impact his future of the Los Angeles Lakers.
forward Jonathan Isaac (1) fight for the ball during the second larly on the defensive end growth." Isaac was hurt in the
half of an NBA basketball game in Orlando, Fla., Friday, Dec.
27, 2019. -- will be out indefinitely, Isaac has started 32 of Or- first quarter of Orlando's
Associated Press won't be re-evaluated for lando's 34 games this sea- win over Washington on
at least eight weeks and son and was having the Wednesday. q