Kyrgios stumbles ahead of French Open

Nine double-faults, 16 aces, erratic behaviour, a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct and a loss to Argentina’s world No.94 Nicolas Kicker, all coming one week before the French Open.

Kyrgios lost his Lyon opener 2-6 6-4 6-2 to the Argentine from a position in which he appeared to be cruising on Tuesday in Lyon.

The Australian fourth seed and world No.19 ripped through the opening set, serving six aces to blast the 24-year-old qualifier off the court.

Kyrgios was still cruising at 4-4 in the second set – even with an uncustomary four double faults at that stage – before it all went awry.

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Kicker made a couple of shots and in a ‘blink and you missed it’ moment Kyrgios netted a second serve to drop the second set.

The Aussie spent the break between sets repeatedly dropping his water bottle onto the court at his feet, until a ballkid picked it up and gave it to him.

Going in to the third Kyrgios tried hitting a tweener early in the set, when he could have hit a regulation forehand. Kicker duly passed the Canberran and from there ran away with the match as Kyrgios picked up a code violation.

Aside from the serving problems that dogged Kyrgios throughout, Kicker repeatedly tested out his movement and recent hip injury with drop shots and won many points when the 22-year-old Australian was at the net.

The win set Kicker up for a quarter-final with Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili, who beat Italian veteran Andreas Seppi 6-4 6-4.

While Kyrgios had dramas there were none of those for Argentine sixth seed Juan Martin del Potro, who advanced to the second round with a 7-5 6-4 win over Frenchman Quentin Halys.