Nick Kyrgios falls short in Halle Open semi-final, set to miss out on Wimbledon seeding

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Nick Kyrgios
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Nick Kyrgios has lost a thrilling Halle Open semi-final, edged out in three sets by Hubert Hurkacz 4-6 7-6(2) 7-6(4).

A wildcard coming into the tournament, the Australian was unable to book a ticket to the final, losing the last two sets via tiebreak.

Despite Kyrgios serving 30 aces, his Polish opponent went toe-to-toe, making 27 of his own.

Hurkacz was also able to minimise his double faults - making just one compared to Kyrgios' seven -  and kept his composure during both tiebreaks.

After impressive consecutive wins against Pablo Carreño Busta and Stefanos Tsitsipas, Kyrgios was in arguably his best singles form of 2022 leading into the semi-final.

However, he is set to narrowly miss out on seeding for this year's Wimbledon tournament.

A win against Hurkacz would have pushed him to approximately 36-37 in the ATP rankings, and therefore into the top 32 for Wimbledon (after the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian players, who are banned from the tournament). 

Kyrgios will now be randomly placed in the draw at the All England Club.

With a strong record on grass, he will likely be an unwanted opponent for any seeded player.

Following an outburst in his Halle Open round of 16 match against Stefanos Tsitsipas, the 27-year-old was relatively calm this time around.

However, the match against Hurkacz wasn't entirely without controversy.

Early in the second set, a ballkid stumbled whilst picking up a first-serve fault from Kyrgios.

After going on to lose the point, Kyrgios then directed his frustration at the ballkid, despite making his second serve. 

"You put me off," he told the ballkid.

"Run properly, please." 

Nick Kyrgios
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Kyrgios will now head to Spain, where he will play Laslo Đere in the round of 32 at the Mallorca Open. 

It is set to be his final tournament before Wimbledon, which begins on June 27.

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Joshua Mayne Photo

Joshua Mayne is a content producer for The Sporting News Australia.