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Wednesday 11 OctOber 2017
Kyrgios walks out on match in Shanghai after losing 1st set

By SANDRA HARWITT scenity code violation. He the 6-3, 6-1 loss, even pat-
Associated Press was docked a point, which ting easy serves over the
SHANGHAI (AP) — A year made the score 4-4. net and turning away be-
after being fined for “tank- When the set was done, fore his opponent’s serve
ing” a match at the Shang- so was Kyrgios. He left the crossed the net.
hai Masters, Nick Kyrgios court without explanation, Kyrgios arrived in Shanghai
quit another one altogeth- avoided a news confer- this time after losing the
er. ence, and took to Twitter to China Open final to Rafael
The temperamental Aus- firstly apologize for his ac- Nadal 6-2, 6-1 on Sunday.
tralian argued several tions then give his reasons. Also, John Isner beat Serbi-
times with the chair umpire “I’ve been battling a stom- an qualifier Dusan Lajovic
during his first-round match ach bug for the past 24 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6) on a day
against Steve Johnson on hours and I tried to be with temperatures soaring
Tuesday. After losing the ready but I was really strug- past 32 degrees C (90 de-
tiebreaker 7-6 (5), Kyrgios gling on the court today grees F).
shook hands with Johnson which I think was pretty evi- “The conditions were bru-
at the net and then with dent from the first point,” tal,” Isner said. “It felt like
the chair umpire before he wrote. Atlanta in August. That
packing his bags and walk- “My shoulder started to could’ve been the hottest
ing off court. hurt in the practice today match I played all year.”
Serving at 30-30 in the 12th which didn’t help either American Jack Sock, the
game of the first set, a fore- and once I lost the first set I 14th seed, retired in his
hand by Kyrgios was called was just not strong enough match because of de-
out. The Australian chal- to continue because I’ve hydration with Ukrainian
lenged the call and it was not eaten much the past qualifier Alexandr Dolgop-
overruled. Kyrgios then hit 24 hours.” olov leading 4-6, 6-1, 2-1.
two balls in anger and was The ATP said it was investi- Also, Marin Cilic, a Wim-
assessed a code violation gating. Kyrgios added he bledon finalist this year,
warning. would decide on Wednes- defeated Kyle Edmund
At the change of ends in day whether to play his of Britain 6-3, 7-6 (5) in the
the tiebreaker, Kyrgios was scheduled doubles. second round. Juan Martin
leading 4-2 but was an- Last year, Kyrgios was sus- del Potro also made the
noyed that fans were be- pended by the men’s tour third round.
ing allowed to come into for tanking a match and in- Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina gestures after defeating An- U.S. Open finalist Kevin An-
the court. sulting fans following a sec- drey Rublev of Russia in their men’s singles match against Du- derson began by defeat-
Kyrgios lost the next point ond-round loss to German san Lajovic of Serbia in the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament ing Adrian Mannarino 6-3,
and then started to com- qualifier Mischa Zverev at at Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center in Shanghai, China, 6-1, and Ryan Harrison of
plain and curse, which the Shanghai Masters. Kyr- Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. the U.S. beat local wild
earned him an audible ob- gios gave little effort during Associated Press card Zhang Ze 6-2, 6-3.q
Thomas product of great play, and going through today at
sometimes even that isn’t 15 to 21, watching Jordan
enough. and Justin and Hideki,”
Continued from Page 17 “I know how hard it is to do Pat Perez said at the Tour
He will make one more because of how deep the Championship. “All these
stop next week in South Ko- tour is right now and how kids that are coming up are
rea for the CJ Cup at Nine many great players there going, ‘Man, I’ve got to be
Bridges before a five-week are and how guys are win- that or I’m not going to be
break to digest and reas- ning three, four, five times that great, because these
sess. a year every year,” he said. guys are doing it now and
A year ago, Thomas had “And it’s something that’s I’m not doing it.’”
one victory in his 64 starts going to be tough to repli- Perez came through at a
as a pro on the PGA Tour. cate. But I’m definitely go- different time. There was
He was No. 35 in the world ing to give it my best.” greatness, but the source
and still being referred to From 1981 through 2014, was limited.“I had Tiger,
as “Jordan Spieth’s friend” In this Sept. 24, 2017, file photo, Justin Thomas holds the trophy only three players won at and that was what ev-
whenever he was shown after winning the Fedex Cup after the Tour Championship golf least five times on the PGA erybody had to compete
on TV. tournament at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. Associated Press Tour in one season — Nick with,” Perez said. “That was
Now he’s trying to figure Price, Vijay Singh and Ti- just one. And you knew
out how high to set the bar. seen. among his 11 tour victories. ger Woods (who did it 10 you were going to lose to
Along with five victories Expectations will be high. Do not overlook Rory Mc- times). Over the last three him at least nine times a
and his first major, the Comparisons will be un- Ilroy, who only seems old seasons, Spieth, Thomas year, which was fine be-
24-year-old Thomas bur- avoidable. at 28. Hideki Matsuyama, and Jason Day have won cause that gave you a lot
nished his reputation for Competition figures to be 25, briefly had the lead on five times.Did anyone see of other tournaments that
explosive scoring with a 59 strong as ever. Sunday at the PGA Cham- this coming from Thomas a you could win. Now any of
and the 72-hole scoring re- In just three full years on the pionship. He was that close year ago? these kids can win. They’re
cord on the PGA Tour dur- PGA Tour, Thomas already to being talked about the Spieth wasn’t much differ- winning 15, 16 times a year
ing his seven-shot victory at has six victories including way Thomas is now. ent. He had only one PGA combined. That doesn’t
the Sony Open, and a 63 a major and is No. 4 in the Winning player of the year Tour victory going into the leave a whole lot left.”
at the U.S. Open. Along the world. Now consider Spi- was not among the goals season when he won five He was exaggerating, but
way, he staked his claim to eth, who is three months Thomas wrote down at times, including two ma- not by much. Thomas, Spi-
being a key figure in the younger than Thomas and the start of last season, jors, and the FedEx Cup. eth, Matsuyama and Dustin
one of the deepest youth already has three legs of and it probably won’t be Who’s next?“I can only Johnson combined for 15
movements golf has ever the career Grand Slam on this year’s list. It’s a by- imagine what the kids are victories and two majors. q