Nick Kyrgios warmed up for an early season test against world No 2 Andy Murray with an impressive come-from-behind win on the opening day of the mixed teams Hopman Cup in Perth on Sunday.
Kyrgios, 20, who raised eyebrows with his on-court behaviour last year, was too good for fellow young gun Alexander Zverev in a match played out at a frenetic pace.
Kyrgios dropped the first set but steamed through the next two to beat the teenage German in just over an hour, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Kyrgios will face Murray when Australia Green — one of two teams representing the host nation in the event — plays Great Britain on Wednesday, at match he said he was keenly anticipating.
“I have been looking forward to that for a long time now so I’m going to go and do everything I can to physically prepare for that battle,” he said.
Murray has won all four of their encounters, most recently at last year’s US Open, and Kyrgios has taken just one set off the Scot.
Zverev, at just 18, is tipped, along with Kyrgios, to be one of the stars of the men’s game for the next decade.
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He achieved the only break of the first set, but the volatile Australian kept a cool head to regain control of the match.
“I felt as if it was a lucky break in the first set (for Zverev), I played a couple of loose points,” the world No 30 Kyrgios said.
“I knew I just had to stay calm.”
Daria Gavrilova beat a rusty Sabine Lisicki in the women’s singles 6-2, 6-2, and Australia Green went on to achieve a clean sweep, winning the mixed doubles on a tiebreak, 6-3, 4-6, 10-7.
Gavrilova, ranked 36th in the world, celebrated her first appearance for Australia with a comfortable win over a clearly underdone Lisicki.
The Russian-born Gavrilova only officially switched allegiances to Australia last month and said she was nervous before the match.
For Lisicki, it was her first match since the US Open last September.
The 2013 Wimbledon finalist was beaten in the fourth round by Simona Halep at the US Open and was sidelined by a knee injury for the rest of the year.
Pavlyuchenkova upsets Bacsinszky
Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova caused the only upset on the first day of the season-opening Brisbane International when she swept aside fifth-seeded Swiss Timea Bacsinszky 6-2, 6-1.
The powerful Russian took just over an hour to defeat Bacsinszky and set up a clash against Frenchwoman Alize Cornet.
Cornet booked her place in the second round when she beat fellow countrywoman Kristina Mladenovic 6-3, 6-4.
Former Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova survived a scare from Belgian Yanina Wickmayer to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the tournament’s first match at the Pat Rafter Arena.
The Slovakian was down 4-3 in the third set before storming home to see off Wickmayer in two hours and 11 minutes.
“Today I was really, really strong, especially mentally,” she said.
“For the first match it was tough because [in] these first tournaments of the season ... you never know what to expect.
“The only thing I knew I could do better in the first set and second set was my serve.”
Former Brisbane finalist Andrea Petkovic of Germany was untroubled in her 6-1, 6-2 win over Brazilian Teliana Pereira.
Petkovic will take on either third seed Maria Sharapova or Ekaterina Makarova in the second round.
In the only other main draw match Varvara Lepchenko of the US beat Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-2, 6-1 and will now face second-seeded Garbine Muguruza of Spain.
Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka begins her campaign on Monday when she plays Russian qualifier Elena Vesnina, while the men’s draw gets underway when fifth-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon clashes with Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov.
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