Mpetshi Perricard celebrates his victory over Kyrgios.Credit: Getty Images
He twice drew errors from his French opponent’s racquet after returns at two-all in the first set to reduce him to 0-30, but Mpetshi Perricard shut the door with the next four points.
In fact, Mpetshi Perricard won 21 of his next 22 points on serve on his way to a one-set lead, including a gutsy 216km/h second serve to go 4-1 up in the tiebreak.
It was nothing new from a player who averaged almost 210 km/h on second serves during his inaugural ATP title run in Basel in October. The tour’s all-time aces leader, retired American John Isner, believes Mpetshi Perricard will be a “nightmare” for most players across the next decade-plus.
Even so, Kyrgios caned a forehand pass winner in the sixth game of the second set to bring up dual break points that Mpetshi Perricard swatted away in a blink of an eye with a pair of aces.
He had to survive three deuces in total before holding serve, but Kyrgios continued to battle – and even cheekily delivered an under-arm serve to complete a love service hold that gave him a 5-4 edge.
That was another box checked on the Kyrgios bingo card after he attempted an ill-advised ’tweener in the first set that thudded into the net during an otherwise routine baseline rally.
However, there was also plenty of substance about Kyrgios’ performance. With the Mpetshi Perricard first serve going slightly off the boil, the Canberran’s chances soared.
One wayward Mpetshi Perricard backhand on the second point of the tiebreak was all it took for Kyrgios’ confidence to soar – and he forced a third set soon after.
Kyrgios had to stave off a break point in the second game of the final set, but did not concede a point in his five following service games entering the tiebreak. As tiebreakers can be, it took one moment to doom the Australian firebrand.
Mpetshi Perricard jumped all over a Kyrgios second serve with an aggressive return that took his rival by surprise and put the Frenchman ahead for good.
Kyrgios’ exit capped a tough day for Australia.
Seventh seed Alexei Popyrin suffered a 6-3, 6-2 loss to Italian Matteo Arnaldi, while Queensland wildcard Adam Walton went down 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 to fourth-seeded American Frances Tiafoe despite having two set points in the opener.
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