By Glenn Moore
The serve, the net play, the powerful forehand. It was all there, maybe this time a Nick Kyrgios comeback will last more than a fortnight.
That will depend on how his body reacts to 69 minutes on court in Stuttgart, and whether it allows the Australian to back up the impressive defeat of world No.36 Corentin Moutet 6-3 6-4.
Now 31 Kyrgios is young enough to have several more years on tour, if he has the mental desire and physical capability.
For now he is believed to be looking no further than the grasscourt season and another crack at Wimbledon, where he was a finalist in 2022, before the injuries began.
The defeat of Moutet was a good start even if it it was a good time to play the Frenchman who had lost his last five matches.
Kyrgios finished the first set with an ace and the second with a forehand after another powerful serve had set up the kill.
Kyrgios had last played a singles match in Brisbane, in January. Before that he had not played since March 2025. He had won one singles match since October 2022, though that’s mainly because he has only played seven in that time.
There’s also been seven doubles matches.
A litany of injuries have been the problem, notably knee and wrist, but there’s been others.
Kyrgios now plays Sho Shimabukuro, ranked 101, from Japan. It will be their first meeting.
That won’t be until Thursday (local time) but he has a doubles match with Alexander Bublik on Wednesday, against Jakub Paul and Ryan Seggerman, to negotiate first.
Fellow Aussies James Duckworth and Rinky Hijikata also won in Germany, and if they both win again will meet in the quarter-final, though given the draw that seems unlikely.
Duckworth eased past teenaged German Diego Dedura 6-4 6-3 but Hijikata was made to work harder by another local wildcard, Tom Gentzsch, coming through 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-2) 6-3.
They now meet fourth seed Jiri Lehecka and sixth seed Frances Tiafoe respectively.
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