Wu Spoils Kyrgios Return In Stuttgart

Before Tuesday afternoon in Stuttgart, Wu Yibing had not played a match on grass since he was a junior.

That relative inexperience on the surface did not stop the Chinese from notching an impressive opening win at the BOSS OPEN, where he defeated a physically struggling Nick Kyrgios 7-5, 6-3 in the first-round at the ATP 250 event in Germany.

“The last time I played on grass was juniors back in 2017, so six years,” said Wu after his victory. “I was really happy to play Nick in the first round. He’s one of the best players on grass and he served well… He aced me [so many] times. The key for me was to stay cool, stay patient in the game and find a way. I’m happy [with that result].”

Kyrgios, who had surgery to repair a small tear in his left lateral meniscus in January, appeared to be struggling physically from early in the match, at one point telling his team he was unable to ‘walk without pain’.

Wu saved a break point in the opening game with a classy forehand on the run before making his move on return to break Kyrgios in the 12th game and claim the first set. As Kyrgios’ movement grew visibly more restricted, the World No. 64 Wu also claimed the only break of the second set to seal his third Top 30 win.

“It was pretty special because it was very tense, and he was holding his service games pretty easily,” said Wu, when asked about his break to claim the opening set. “I was suffering [on serve] sometimes because he has a better serve than me, but I was patient in the match. I will keep going and work on my serve, and hopefully I can be a better server.”