Fun ends for Djoker-Kyrgios; Osaka rolls on

brisbane: The new doubles team of Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios are out of the Brisbane International in the second round.

The pair, granted a wildcard entry by tournament organizers, lost 6-2 3-6 10-8 Wednesday to the top-seeded team of Nikola Mektic of Croatia and New Zealander Michael Venus.

A Djokovic double-fault with the duo leading 8-6 in the match tiebreak was key to the defeat as they lost the last four points of the match.

“Incredible,” Mektic told the sold-out crowd. “I was very happy when I saw them, I could play them on the first of January. It’s an amazing feeling to start the year like this and we knew there would be points like that against players like this.”

In Auckland, four-time Grand Slam singles winner Naomi Osaka has started 2025 in style, beating Julia Grabher 7-5 6-3 Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Auckland tennis classic.

Osaka overcame a swirling breeze and a lengthy rain break to progress comfortably beyond the second round. Although the wind often affected her ball toss, Osaka didn’t drop her serve at any stage and broke Grabher once in each set to win her way to the Auckland quarterfinals for the second time. Osaka also reached the last-eight on her only previous visit to New Zealand in 2017.

“She was a really tough opponent for me to play against and I felt I just had to concentrate on myself a lot and try not to be as nervous as I felt,” Osaka said. “I got some great advice from a great coach over there,” Osaka added, referring to Patrick Mouratoglou who recently joined her team. “I just tried to focus on my bullet points and go out swinging if I had to go out.”

Osaka’s first serve was a powerful weapon and she won 80% of points when she put the serve in play.