World No. 65 Nick Kyrgios clinched a routine victory over Pablo Carreno Busta in Halle but afterward insisted it wasn’t an easy match at all.
On Friday, Kyrgios handed Carreno Busta a 6-4 6-2 loss to progress into the Halle semifinal.
In the first set, Kyrgios earned the first break of the match in the fifth game and then routinely held on to his serve the rest of the set to win the opener.
After winning the first set, Kyrgios broke Carreno Busta twice in the second set to complete a straight-set win.
Kyrgios claimed a total of three breaks, while he never faced a break point.
āIām feeling so comfortable on the grass,” Kyrgios said after his win, per the ATP website. “Today was not easy at all. The scoreline suggest that it was, but heās a dangerous player on all surfaces. He hits the ball quite flat, and he knows how to win matches. I knew that today I just had to take care of my serve, and just be locked in from the ground because heās a tough competitor.ā
Kyrgios wanted to make a strong start
In the Halle round-of-16, Kyrgios found himself down by a set to Stefanos Tsitsipas.
However, Kyrgios was able to recover and beat Tsitsipas 5-7 6-2 6-4.
After beating Carreno Busta, Kyrgios revealed his goal was not to find himself down by a set once again.
āAgainst Tsitsipas I wanted to get that first set,” he said. “I know how much it means to get on top of those top players early on. Today from the get-go I applied so much pressure on his serve, and I thought I just returned really well today.ā
Kyrgios will be battling Hubert Hurkacz for a place in the Halle semifinal.
In the last quarterfinal of the day, Hurkacz defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime to set up a Kyrgios meeting.
Kyrgios and Hurkacz have no previous meetings.