Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios secured his first victory since 2022, rallying from a set down to defeat American Mackenzie McDonald 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 at the Miami Open on Wednesday.
Kyrgios, whose career has been hampered by injuries over the past two years, recently withdrew from his first-round match at Indian Wells due to persistent pain in his surgically reconstructed right wrist—a setback that had kept him sidelined for 18 months.
Reflecting on his win, the 29-year-old admitted that returning to the court had been a daunting experience.
“It has been a long journey, even just to get to the start line of matches and be scared to finish them,” Kyrgios said. “To come off and get a win and feel like I belong again was special.”
A Wimbledon finalist in 2022, Kyrgios revealed that he had serious doubts about his comeback.
“I never thought I would play tennis again, to be brutally honest with you,” he said. “I was having conversations with my camp and my team, and I said, ‘I don’t know how long I can keep doing this for.’”
Despite the emotional boost from his victory, Kyrgios remains cautious about his recovery.
“This win puts some petrol in the tank, but I need to be realistic and see how my wrist feels tomorrow because it is a grind out here,” he added.
Meanwhile, French veteran Gael Monfils, 38, claimed a first-round win, making him the second-oldest man to triumph at the Miami Open after Jimmy Connors. Monfils defeated last year’s quarter-finalist, Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
In the women’s draw, 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu secured a commanding 6-2, 6-1 victory over 19-year-old Japanese wild card Sayaka Ishii in just 65 minutes.
Raducanu now faces eighth-seeded American Emma Navarro in the second round, marking her first clash with a top-10 opponent since losing to Iga Swiatek in the Australian Open third round.
“It’s going to be an extremely challenging match,” Raducanu acknowledged. “She’s probably in better form, so I can go out and express myself and try to compete for every point.”
Elsewhere, former Grand Slam champions Sofia Kenin and Petra Kvitova battled it out, with American Kenin emerging victorious 6-4, 7-5. Kenin now faces world number three Coco Gauff in the second round.
