Thanasi Kokkinakis rides crowd energy to Adelaide win
Thanasi Kokkinakis thrilled local fans at the Adelaide International on Monday night, going the distance to defeat Yoshihito Nishioka 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 at the Memorial Drive Tennis Centre.
The Australian won his sole ATP-level title in Adelaide three years ago, and has a propensity to play his best tennis down under.
Monday night was no exception, with Kokkinakis earning 12 break points over the course of the two-hour, 11-minute match and converting three of them.
“You’ve got no choice,” he said of his performance.
“These guys are here for me to support and to get behind me, and I’ve got to give them something to cheer about and go home happy.
“I knew it wasn’t going to be easy against Yoshi, he’s a hell of a player.
“For a set and a half, I was playing great.
“Had a lot of break points that one game in the second set, and if I maybe took that, maybe it was a good straight-sets win.
“But sometimes that’s tennis. He had one break point, he took it in the second set, and then it was a dogfight.
“But tennis, I’ve played enough matches to know how topsy-turvy they are.”
While Kokkinakis currently sits at No.77 in the world, last year he punched above his weight and defeated top players such as Ben Shelton, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Felix Auger-Aliassime.
He sits on the sixth line of betting across tennis bookmakers to win the title at the Adelaide International, paying $11 at Neds.
Tommy Paul ($4.50) leads outright betting with online bookmakers, ahead of Auger-Aliassime ($6.50), Denis Shapovalov ($7.50), Alejandro Davidovich Fokina ($9) and Benjamin Bonzi ($10).
Whether or not Kokkinakis can make a title run this week, the 28-year-old is simply enjoying the chance to play in front of his own people.
“Match aside, just walking out here kind of gets me emotional, to be honest,” he said.
“It’s pretty surreal to think a place where you grew up playing and training so many hours, you come out here and all these people are coming to watch you.
“So that kind of hit home a little bit when I was walking out there.
“I was honestly almost a little bit teary eyed when I walked out there.
“I just want to put on a good performance and just try my best out there.
“The fans were incredible.”