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Thanasi Kokkinakis left fuming at umpire in 'brutal' drama at Cincinnati Open

The Aussie tennis player was left fuming at the chair umpire's ruling in the final moments.

riley morgan
Sports Reporter
·3-min read
Thanasi Kokkinakis during the change over and Kokkinakis arguing with the chair umpire.
Thanasi Kokkinakis (pictured left) lost a thriller against Hubert Hurkacz (pictured right), but became frustrated in the final set. (Getty Images/@TennisTV)

Aussie tennis ace Thanasi Kokkinakis has once again gone down in brutal fashion having lost to Hubert Hurkacz at the Cincinnati Open. Kokkinakis was one of a number of Aussies in action with rain delays causing havoc.

And the Aussie was ready to put up a fight having made huge strides in qualifying for the ATP 1000 event. The World No.78 was up against Hurkacz in the round of 64, which was a rematch of their recent battle in Miami.

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Having lost the first set, Kokkinakis responded in brilliant fashion and levelled the match. And to show how close the battles have been between these two in 2023, the third set went to a tiebreak. It marked the fifth tiebreak in six sets between the pair this year.

And in brutal fashion Kokkinakis went down again to Hurkacz 7-6, 3-6, 7-6 to leave the Aussie eliminated from the tournament. Kokkinakis became particularly frustrated with the chair umpire towards the end of the match. At 6-5 and deuce in the deciding set, Kokkinakis was called for a time violation.

The Aussie protested the timing of the violation at such a critical moment. Fortunately, Kokkiankis held but went on to lose the match. Kokkinakis has been involved in a number of close defeat this year, the most memorable involving Andy Murray in the second round of the Australian Open.

Tennis fans felt for Kokkinakis having lost two tiebreaks against Hurkacz this year in the deciding set.

Alex de Minaur rises in world rankings

Nick Kyrgios may not be taking part in the upcoming US Open, but Australia will be getting behind Alex de Minaur with the 24-year-old finding form ahead of the grand slam. Having reached two consecutive hard court finals, de Minaur has risen to World No.12.

"Looking at the results, I'm pretty happy with where my level is at and how I'm continuously chipping away towards my goals," the 24-year-old said after his loss to Jannik Sinner in the Canadian Open final. "Step by step, I feel like I'm getting better. I'm showing my level against top opponents, day in and day out.

Alex De Minaur speaks after a match.
Alex De Minaur (pictured) has reached a career-high ranking of World No.12 after his strong hard court form. (Photo by Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

"This week was a great week for me. I'm feeling confident. I'm going to be ranked 12 and I've still got plenty and plenty of areas to improve on. I think it's going to be the case my whole career but that's the beauty of it, so it's exciting for me."

The stellar form has seen de Minaur move up the ATP rankings to a career-high of No.12 - one place higher than Kyrgios' best of No.13. It means De Minaur is the highest-ranked Aussie male player since Hewitt was still in the top 10 in 2006.

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