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The pair, granted a wild-card entry by
tournament organizers, lost 6-2, 3-6, 10-8 Wednesday to the
top-seeded team of Nikola Mektic of Croatia and New Zealander
Michael Venus.
A Djokovic double-fault with the duo leading 8-6 in the match
tiebreak was key to the defeat as they lost the last four points
of the match.
“Incredible,” Mektic told the sold-out crowd. “I was very happy
when I saw them, I could play them on the first of January. It’s
an amazing feeling to start the year like this and we knew there
would be points like that against players like this.”
DJokovic and Kyrgios won their opening doubles match, a
crowd-pleasing, fist-pumping affair by both players at Pat
Rafter Arena.
Kyrgios lost his opening singles match on Tuesday after an
18-month absence from the tour due to injuries. Djokovic won his
first singles match on the same day and will next play Gael
Monfils, who he has a 19-0 record against.
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