Nick Kyrgios collects unwanted humiliation in comeback against opponent he once called a “pelican”

A grumbling, unhappy Nick Kyrgios has crashed out of the Miami Open, forced to stomach a second-set ‘bagel’ as Karen Khachanov made him suffer in a dispiriting 7-6 (7-3) 6-0 defeat.

The mercurial but ring-rusty Australian had admitted he had no idea how his injury-prone racquet wrist was going to pull up in a second match in three days after his encouraging first-round victory over Mackenzie Macdonald, his first tour-level victory in two-and-a-half years.

But the Hard Rock Stadium crowd were soon to find out on Friday as Kyrgios began by going punch-for-punch with one of the world’s best, only to wholly run out of steam – and, seemingly, belief – as he delivered a dismal second-set performance in which he mustered just seven points.

Despite the capitulation, Kyrgios said it was an important step forward in his comeback and praised his opponent who had previously been his rival.

‘Honestly today was a big stepping stone. @karenkhachanov was just too good,’ he posted.

‘We played a great first set but encouraging that I could finish 2 matches this week! Plenty to work on. Thankyou old friend and good luck for the rest of the tournament.’

Karen Khachanov put a bagel on Kyrgios as the Aussie star’s injury-prone wrist let him down

Despite their past animosity, Kyrgios and Khachanov shared pleasantries at the net after the match

It comes after Kyrgios refused to back down in a Twitter spat with Khachanov after being criticised for his reaction to Mats Wilander’s comments on Andy Murray in 2020.

Khachanov had called for Kyrgios to show Willander more respect before things became heated and he told the Aussie to read more books and stop playing video games all day.

‘I’ve also been feeding the hungry, helping open up new facilities for kids to get active,’ Kyrgios tweeted back at the time. 

‘But way to do your research you absolute pelican.’ 

In an odd performance which showed off the familiar Jekyll-and-Hyde faces of the former Wimbledon finalist, there was much to applaud about the way the 29-year-old mixed it with the Russian 22nd seed, taking Khachanov to a tiebreak in a feisty opening-set display.

But after he missed a chance to go 3-1 up in the tiebreak, making a mess of a forehand and allowing Khachanov take control, it was as if he became a different player, perhaps recognising that to win two more sets was going to be a mountain too high to climb in his physical state.

Sure enough, Khachanov began to bully him, with Kyrgios just getting more irritated with himself and his team at courtside, offering a running commentary on everything that was bothering him, which appeared to include a problem with his shoulder.

He smashed one ball high out of court to earn a warning from the chair as the ferocity of his first-set hitting gave way to the casual, sloppy strokemaking of someone perhaps hurting and recognising there was no way back.

There was plenty of venom between Kyrgios and Khachanov back in 2020 after a Twitter spat

Kyrgios called Khachanov an “absolute pelican” in 2020 after their online chat grew fiery

When he hit a forehand long, his 30th unforced error, he was eventually put out of his misery, the second set having lasted just 21 minutes, compared to the first which had been nearly an hour-long battle.

It was a performance that offered just a tantalising glimpse of the brilliance Kyrgios can still produce against a player of the quality of world No.23 Khachanov, who was his last opponent in a grand slam back at the US Open in 2022 when the Russian won a much more competitive affair.

Yet ultimately, his conditioning after all his injury setbacks is still clearly nowhere near good enough for him to rattle the very best as Khachanov moved on to a clash with Grigor Dimitrov in the last-32.

Kyrgios’s fellow Australian, Perth qualifier Tristan Schoolkate had earlier also gone out at the second-round stage, beaten by Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4 6-4.