Brisbane International, Australia

Men’s Final: [21] Nick Kyrgios (AUS) vs. [47] Ryan Harrison

When you watch Kyrgios play with focus, you are astounded by the quality of his tennis and you forget that he can be rather naughty on the court. Perhaps this is the season that he puts all that behind him and focuses of playing quality tennis day in and day out. With his talent, it is hard to comprehend why he has only won four titles; yet, given his history, it is probably not that difficult to understand.

He has the weapons, what has been his Achilles heel is his unwillingness to stay focused during his matches. Today he was very calm and quite focused and there was absolutely nothing that Harrison could do to rattle him. In this form, he should win quite a few titles this season. However, there is another huge concern for the big serving Australian, injury.

His 2017 season was plagued with one injury or another and he has not started the 2018 season completely free of injury. Kyrgios played the entire tournament with his left knee bandaged. This is troubling and the concern is whether or not his knee injury will allow him to withstand the pounding of two weeks at a major on hard court.

Despite losing this match, it was a very positive start to the season for the American. Last year he did not make it out of the first round of qualifying and this year Harrison made it all the way to the final. It is always a tough ask to beat Kyrgios and a history of losing 0:2 to the Australian probably did not instill much confidence in Harrison. He needed to serve well and take advantage of his opportunities. Easier said than done and Harrison did not serve well and failed to capitalize on some critical break point opportunities.

Kyrgios won 6-4, 6-2 to claim his first title in two years and his first on home soil.

SOURCE OF IMAGE:  Zimbio.com (Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images Asia Pac)