Kyrgios goes down fighting on return; Sabalenka wins season-opener

BRISBANE, Australia — Nick Kyrgios lost in three tight sets on Tuesday in his first singles match since June 2023 as women's world number one Aryna Sabalenka overcame a sluggish start to win her season-opener at the Brisbane International.

Australian firebrand Kyrgios went down 7-6 (7/2), 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/3) to Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in almost two and a half hours as serve dominated.

The 2022 Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios, 29, is making his comeback following wrist reconstruction and other injuries over the past couple of years.

Ahead of the Australian Open starting on January 12, big-serving Mpetshi Perricard said Kyrgios had shown enough to suggest that his comeback would be a success.

Kyrgios played and won in the doubles with Novak Djokovic on Monday.

"Playing Nick here wasn't a good matchup for me," the 21-year-old Mpetshi Perricard said, asked about playing Kyrgios in front of his home crowd.

"He did some good things — he played with confidence. I'm sure he's going to be back in the next few months."

The Frenchman, who has risen from 205 in the world at the start of 2024 to his current ranking of 31, fired down 36 aces.

Sabalenka kickstarted her bid to win the Australian Open for a third consecutive time with a straight-sets win.

The Belarusian appeared bothered by the high humidity on Pat Rafter Arena in Brisbane, particularly during an error-strewn first set.

But after breaking Mexico's Renata Zarazua at 5-4, the 26-year-old surged through the second set to wrap up the match 6-4, 6-0 in 65 minutes.

"The first match is always a tricky one," Sabalenka said.

"It was a tricky start for me but I'm glad that I closed it out in the first set, and in the second set I felt like whatever I tried to do it would work for me.

"So I'm really happy for the first win of the season."

Sabalenka is bidding to be the first woman since Martina Hingis in 1997-99 to win three Australian Opens in succession.

She will play Yulia Putintseva next after the Kazakh's 6-2, 7-5 win over American Mccartney Kessler.

There was an upset in the women's draw when Armenia's world number 43 Elina Avanesyan beat Spain's fourth seed Paula Badosa in the first match on centre court.

Avanesyan broke the World No. 12 early in the decider before easing away to win 6-3, 1-6, 6-2.