Reilly Opelka hands Nick Kyrgios third straight loss in Toronto night session

For the longest time on Monday night in Toronto, everything was looking rather quiet and pedestrian for a Nick Kyrgios match. The Aussie was focused and playing solid, leading Reilly Opelka 6-4, locked at 4-4 in the second-set tiebreak.

Then, a lofty Kyrgios return with tons of backspin brought Opelka extremely close to the net. Opelka would finish the point, but Kyrgios believed that Opelka’s foot touched the net on the smash. Here is the replay:

It was the first bit of adversity that Kyrgios faced during the match, and as usual, he responded poorly to it.

“What match are you watching? I can see from a foot away his foot touched the net,” Kyrgios yelled at the umpire, who responded plainly: “I’m not going to call it if I don’t see it.”

“Yeah I know, but it cost me the F-ing set. Bulls*.”

Opelka would go on to win the tiebreak, break Kyrgios early in the third set, and win the match without facing a break point in the final two sets. Kyrgios’ outburst should not take away from the fact that Opelka played a phenomenal finish. The American was focused and determined, and found the perfect range on his groundstrokes, which clipped line after line. His movement seemed to improve as the match went on, no doubt motivated by his new lease on life given to him by his mercurial opposition.

This story has been written so many times before, by so many different authors. Sometimes Kyrgios will win, sometimes he’ll lose. But so rarely is the story of a Kyrgios match about the actual tennis, and that might be exactly what he wants.

Opelka—who served 22 aces in the match and earned nine break-point opportunities compared to two for Kyrgios—will face Grigor Dimitrov in the second round.