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Australian Open: Special K’s Nick Kyrgios, Thanasi Kokkinakis take out top seed in shock boilover

Headshot of Catherine Healey
Catherine HealeyNews Corp Australia
Thanasi Kokkinakis (left) and Nick Kyrgios have caused a shock upset in the doubles.
Camera IconThanasi Kokkinakis (left) and Nick Kyrgios have caused a shock upset in the doubles. Credit: Dean Lewins/AAPIMAGE

Revs can wait — because the Special Ks might just have a doubles title to win.

The world’s wildest pairing did it again on Friday, stunning the world No.1 Croatian pairing of Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic in front of a roaring KIA Arena.

The two mates played up, messed around and, of course, played some stupendously good tennis to eliminate a pairing that, last year, won basically everything.

Olympic gold and Wimbledon honours sat along seven more titles for their 2021 trophy cabinet, but they’d never come up against anything like Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis before.

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The party atmosphere was in full swing, with one punter turning to face the crowd and knocked back a shooey early in the second set.

Honestly, you wouldn’t have been surprised if Kyrgios and Kokkinakis had joined him in the beer-drinking ritual.

The Game AFL 2024

They play doubles for the fun - which isn’t to say they can’t also take it seriously.

The match was not without controversy, however, with Pavic becoming increasingly frustrated as the night wore on and the jeering got louder.

He took the extraordinary step of approaching the chair umpire on a crucial break point and beg for some respect as Kyrgios played up to the crowd.

“This is pissing me off. Don’t let that happen,” Pavic pleaded.

He lost the next point, was broken and quickly shuffled off the court as the Special Ks did their victory lap for the crowd after the stunning upset.

The all-night session at Revolver they’ve got pencilled for the post-Open party will just have to wait.

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