Nick Kyrgios defeated Fernando Verdasco at the Montreal Masters
Tuesday 11 August 2015 21:32, UK
Nick Kyrgios advanced past Fernando Verdasco in the Montreal Masters first round on Tuesday.
The enigmatic young Australian took his time finishing the job, wasting a pair of match points in the final set, but ran out 6-3 4-6 6-4 winner.
Armed with a blonde and pink mohawk, Kyrgios was all smiles as he wrong-footed Verdasco to volley the winning point after an hour and 36 minutes.
Kyrgios displayed both sides of his eye-catching personality - first seemingly giving up on a point during the second set before losing another point after an overt attempt to flick the ball past Verdasco.
But it was a fun-loving finish from the 20-year-old, often associated with a fiery personality on the tennis court, even when he twice failed to dispose of Verdasco as the Spaniard served to stay in the game.
Kyrgios calmly composed himself and served the match out, booking a second-round spot against third seed Stan Wawrinka.
Elsewhere, Richard Gasquet was forced to withdraw from the tournament.
