Kyrgios beats Murray at Hopman Cup

The Murrays are certainly in the news for all sorts of reasons as the Australian Open approaches, with newly-crowned Sports Personality of the Year Andy seeking to win the year’s first Grand Slam at last after losing four times in the final, including last year.

Watson plays Daria Gavrilova later on Wednesday before the four players take part in a mixed doubles rubber.

“I think the crowd is going to be fully behind him whoever he plays”, Kyrgios said.

“One hundred per cent he wanted to win that tonight”.

“He’s just a great player and today I knew what my game plan was going to be and how he was going to play”. “Nick is a fantastic player, but there are so many things that go into staying at the top of the game for a long time or winning the major events”, he said.

Murray said the fast-paced nature of the match was to his detriment. The most anticipated showdown on Opening Day would feature the Czech Republic facing one of the host nation’s two squads, and looking to disappoint the home crowd.

Hewitt, a two-time Grand Slam champion and former No. 1, has already been named Australia’s Davis Cup captain and will be in charge of the team against the United States in the first round of World Group play from March 4-6 at Kooyong in Melbourne.

Murray and Watson are thus left knowing that they need to beat Germany in their final match for a chance of reaching the weekend’s final. The Australian used his ferocious power on the serve and forehand to carve out a 6-4, 7-6 victory: his first in five meetings with Murray.

The doubles had similar swings in momentum and Britain saved three match points in the deciding tie-break, but, on the fourth, Kyrgios served an ace.

Hewitt has been advising the 20-year-old over the last year, a move which Kyrgios says has been a massive part of his development.