ATP Indian Wells: Kyrgios and his wrist break down as Aussie retires in first round

Australian Nick Kyrgios’ plans of a comeback to top-level tennis suffered another blow on Thursday evening as the former Wimbledon runner-up was forced to retire during his first round match against Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp at the BNP Paribas Open.

Kyrgios, playing only his third singles match of the year and his fourth over the last 26 months due to wrist and other injuries, was trailing the Dutch lucky loser Van de Zandschulp 7-6 (7), 3-0 when he called the trainer and then decided that he couldn’t continue.

The Australian started the match a bit slow, going down a double break to trail 4-1. However, he fought back to get the first set on serve and even held a set point late in the first set tiebreak. Van de Zandschulp managed to hold on to win it 9-7. In the second set, the Dutchman broke Kyrgios’ serve in the second game and then held to go up 3-0 when the Aussie asked for a medical time out.

The Australian broke down in tears on the court as he made the decision before walking over to his opponent to shake hands at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Van De Zandschulp, ranked No 85, will play No 6 seed Novak Djokovic next.

Indian Wells Masters 1000, other first-round matches (Indian Wells Tennis Garden, hard, USD 13,042,410):

• Adam Walton (Q) beat Giulio Zeppieri (Q): 7-5, 6-1
• David Goffin beat Lorenzo Sonego: 6-4, 7-5
• Nuno Borges beat Arthur Rinderknech: 6-1, 5-7, 6-2
• Hugo Gaston (Q) beat Luciano Darderi: 6-3, 6-3
• Gael Monfils beat Jan-Lennard Struff: 6-4, 6-4
• Matteo Gigante (Q) beat Sebastian Baez: 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
• Matteo Arnaldi beat Aleksandar Kovacevic: 6-3, 5-7, 6-4
• Gabriel Diallo (LL) beat Zhizhen Zhang: 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7)
• Mackenzie McDonald (WC) beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina: 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
• Jakub Mensik beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry: 6-4, 7-6 (6)
• Jenson Brooksby beat Benjamin Bonzi: 1-6, 7-5, 7-5
• Joao Fonseca (WC) beat Jacob Fearnley: 6-2, 1-6, 6-3
• Rinky Hijikata beat Alexander Shevchenko: 6-1, 6-3
• Yosuke Watanuki (Q) beat Alexander Bublik: 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
• Cameron Norrie beat Luca Nardi: 6-0, 6-3
• Corentin Moutet beat Jordan Thompson: 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
• Zizou Bergs beat Ethan Quinn (Q): 7-6 (2), 6-3
• Marcos Giron beat Nikoloz Basilashvili (Q): 7-5, 7-6 (3)
• Roman Safiullin beat Reilly Opelka (WC): 7-5, 6-4
• Damir Dzumhur (Q) beat Roberto Bautista Agut: 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (4)
• Colton Smith (Q) beat Flavio Cobolli: 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
• Fabian Marozsan beat Pedro Martinez Portero: 6-3, 6-2
• Yunchaokete Bu beat Nishesh Basavareddy (WC): 7-5, 6-4
• Tallon Griekspoor beat Miomir Kecmanovic: 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3
• Christopher O’Connell beat Roberto Carballes Baena: 6-3, 0-6, 6-1
• Tristan Boyer (WC) beat Aleksandar Vukic: 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4)
• Thiago Seyboth Wild beat Alexandre Muller: 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (6)
• Kei Nishikori beat Jaume Munar: 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (3)
• Quentin Halys vs. Pablo Carreno Busta
• Mariano Navone vs. Learner Tien
• Li Tu vs. Dusan Lajovic

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