BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — The new doubles team of Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios are out of the Brisbane International in the second round.
The pair, granted a wild-card 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.”
DJokovic and Kyrgios won their opening doubles match, a crowd-pleasing, fist-pumping affair by both players at Pat Rafter Arena.
Kyrgios lost his opening singles match on Tuesday after an 18-month absence from the tour due to injuries. Djokovic won his first singles match on the same day and will next play Gael Monfils, who he has a 19-0 record against.
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