Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Zverev keep on entertaining audiences worldwide
Wednesday 11 October 2017 15:24, UK
Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Zverev are very much the future of tennis and they proved it once again when they played out a classic at the China Open.
Two of the hottest prospects in tennis met for the fourth time in 2017 and their blockbuster match-ups seem to be getting better and better every time they clash on a court.
The 22-year-old Australian stunned the German starlet 6-3 7-5 in a high-quality semi-final in their latest meeting last week.
Kyrgios has not always done his talent justice and a year ago he showed his best side for a Beijing crowd that lapped up his fearsome shot-making and showmanship.
Before that, they faced each other at the Montreal Masters where Krygios' troublesome hip flared up during a straight-sets loss to his fellow young gun.
He was blown away 6-4 6-3 by the highly-rated German in 72 minutes of their third-round clash.
But Kyrgios had got the better of Zverev in their two US hard court meetings in the spring.
In the first match at Indian Wells, Kyrgios was in near career-best form as he took Zverev back to school with a crushing 6-3 6-4 victory.
Three weeks later, Zverev was on his game at the Miami Masters and pushed Kyrgios to a third set after one of the best tiebreakers of the year, but once more it was the Australian who came out on top, winning 6-4 6-7 (9-11) 6-3 in the end.
This is surely just the start of what is likely to become another long-standing rivalry, just like when Roger Federer takes on Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray meets Novak Djokovic. It's only a matter of time before we see these two starlets face-off in a major final.
Sky Sports Tennis will have all the action from the Shanghai Masters before we head to the Erste Bank Open and Swiss Indoors Basel and then the Paris Masters.
The Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan and season-ending extravaganza World Tour Finals at London's O2 in November end another memorable year which will be covered via our website sky.mnosports.com/tennis with live blogs and updates as the season reaches its climax.
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