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<\/p>\n
The 2022 Australian Open doubles champions will next face off against French pairing Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul for a spot in the final eight. <\/p>\n
\u201cFirst of all, thank you to everyone for coming out. There\u2019s nothing better than playing in front of an Aussie crowd \u2014 we really appreciate it,\u201d said Kokkinakis. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew we had quality opponents … it was always going to be tough, especially since we hadn\u2019t played together for a few years. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut once we got out there, it felt like riding a bike. It was a lot of fun. We\u2019ve got great chemistry, and we loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kokkinakis, who was plagued by a serious pectoral muscle injury last year, became emotional speaking about his struggles. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s crazy. I haven\u2019t played a match in 12 months,\u201d a tearing-up Kokkinakis said on court. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a long year, a challenging one, a lot of times that I thought the game was done for me. It\u2019s doubles, but it means everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was also a positive return to the court for the oft-injured Kyrgios \u2014 playing in his first official tournament in six months \u2014 who is hoping to also stake his claim at the Australian Open later this month. <\/p>\n
Demon’s Aus Open prep starts with loss | 02:03<\/p>\n
The 2022 Wimbledon runner-up and former world no.13 referenced both his and his partner\u2019s injury hurdles. <\/p>\n
\u201cWith everything Thanasi has gone through over the last year, and with what I\u2019ve dealt with myself, tennis was almost taken away from both of us,\u201d Kyrgios said. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo come back out here and play at that level was pretty insane … Whether we win or lose, we always have the best time together on court. But doing it here makes it even more special. We both have great memories in Brisbane. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just really glad we got the win. It feels good to be back competing and still able to do it at this level \u2014 that\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sabalenka teases Kyrgios rematch | 00:47<\/p>\n
In Perth meantime, four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka got her 2026 season off to a winning start for Japan in the United Cup, after Great Britain\u2019s Emma Raducanu pulled out of their singles clash with a foot injury. <\/p>\n
But despite Osaka\u2019s win, GB took the match 2-1 with a deciding mixed doubles victory in the Sunday clash.<\/p>\n
Switzerland came through the deciding mixed doubles against Italy, with a 7-5, 4-6, 10-7 win by Belinda Bencic and Jakub Paul over Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, enough to see the team through.2-1 into the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was great emotion from the team. We were into it with our hearts and it showed,\u201d Bencic said.<\/p>\n
Against Britain, Osaka was too strong for 276th-ranked reserve Katie Swan, winning 7-6 (7\/4), 6-1 as Raducanu watched from the sidelines.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m proud of how I fought,\u201d Osaka said. \u201cI\u2019d never played here, it was tough.\u201d GB captain Tim Henman said Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion, could appear later in the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe struggled with her foot at the end of last year. She\u2019s been practicing in London and is very close. Tomorrow (against Greece) is a bit up in the air.\u201d <\/p>\n
Kyrgios & Sabalenka hit back at media | 01:11<\/p>\n
Billy Harris, standing in for the injured Jack Draper, began with a 7-6 (7\/4), 6-3 defeat of Shintaro Mochizuki. Great Britain sealed the match when Neal Skupski and Olivia Nicholls defeated Yasutaka Uchiyama and Nao Hibino 7-5, 4-6, 10-7.<\/p>\n
Swiss veteran Stan Wawrinka, 40 and playing his final season, matched it with 23-year-old Italian Flavio Cobolli until a double-fault on match point proved to be the downfall of the three-time Grand Slam winner.<\/p>\n
Wawrinka, playing his his second three-hour match in as many days, lost 6-4, 6-7 (2\/7), 7-6 (7\/4).<\/p>\n
Bencic spoiled the 30th birthday of Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 6-3. \u201cI had to convince my mind after losing to her at the end of 2025,\u201d the winner said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was about mentality out there but I knew I could do it.\u201d In Sydney, Alexander Zverev clinched victory for Germany against the Netherlands as the world number three demolished Tallon Griekspoor 7-5, 6-0.<\/p>\n
Eva Lys beat Suzan Lamens 6-2, 6-2 and Germany also took the doubles for a 3-0 sweep.<\/p>\n
Playing his first match of 2026, Zverev dropped just seven points in a commanding second set.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first set, it was tough to get rhythm,\u201csaid Zverev.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I got the chances, I did well and I\u2019m very happy with the win.\u201d Canada beat China, with Victoria Mboko defeating Zhu Lin 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 and Felix Auger-Aliassime overcoming Zhang Zhizhen 6-4, 6-4.<\/p>\n
The 18-nation mixed-team event in Perth and Sydney is a warm-up for the Australian Open which begins on January 18. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The \u2018Special Ks\u2019, Thanasis Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios, came from behind to progress to the Round of 16…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[5244,2095,64,63,689,143468,209795,651,2065,209798,67914,209794,209801,209800,209804,2057,3738,5717,209797,52194,2328,5874,49081,2022,209792,28375,81139,16255,673,2041,2067,3583,677,46,209805,701,62349,209799,3595,85,13337,209802,209803,670,209796,747,209793,156176,3586,3439,2062,112381],"class_list":["post-392057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-alexander-zverev","tag-america","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-belinda-bencic","tag-billy-harris","tag-brisbane","tag-canada","tag-cult-duo","tag-doubles-champions","tag-doubles-court","tag-emotional-doubles-return","tag-emotional-post-match-interview","tag-emotional-speaking","tag-europe","tag-fox-sports","tag-germany","tag-injury-hurdles","tag-injury-troubles","tag-italy","tag-jack-draper","tag-jasmine-paolini","tag-london","tag-nao-hibino","tag-naomi-osaka","tag-neal-skupski","tag-netherlands","tag-new-south-wales","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-northern-europe","tag-oceania","tag-perth","tag-prep-starts","tag-queensland","tag-sara-errani","tag-singles-clash","tag-southern-europe","tag-sports","tag-stan-wawrinka","tag-stirring-return","tag-swiss-veteran","tag-sydney","tag-teary-on-court-interview","tag-tennis","tag-tennis-cult-duo","tag-tim-henman","tag-united-kingdom","tag-western-australia","tag-western-europe","tag-zhu-lin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}