Thompson hoping to catch Kyrgios

Jordan Thompson says it was about four years and a foot and a half ago that he could beat Australia’s top men’s tennis player Nick Kyrgios but he’s hopeful he’s on track to repeat the feat.

The 20-year-old Thompson and 19-year-old Kyrgios have been close friends and on-court rivals since they were eight.

Sydneysider Thompson said he used to regularly win their fierce battles in the junior ranks.

“I’ve only lost to him once but I haven’t played him since we were about 16,” Thompson said.

“He’s better than me these day – in the top 50 – but that pushes me.”

The imposing Kyrgios now has more than 10cm in height on the slightly-built Thompson, the world No.273.

But Thompson showed he also has the ability to make an impact on the world stage in his opening match of the Kooyong Classic against Japan’s world No.5 Kei Nishikori.

Thompson pushed the US Open finalist all the way to a third-set tiebreaker before going down 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-4).

Nishikori, the defending champion at the eight-man round-robin tournament, has been in impressive form after advancing to the semi-finals at last week’s Brisbane International.

Thompson said it was a confidence-building match ahead of next week’s Australian Open, which he won entry to by taking out the wildcard playoff for the second straight year.

“It’s hard not to take confidence out of playing a top-five player and pushing him all the way in the third set,” he said.

“He’s pretty quick and he has a deceptively good serve and he’s on every ball so he’s a tough opponent.”

Thompson also played in last year’s invitational tune-up for the Australian Open and beat Argentina’s Juan Monaco and had a narrow loss to Frenchman Richard Gasquet.

At the Open he was up two sets to love against 20th seed Jerzy Janowicz before fading in the searing heat.

Nishikori was impressed by his young opponent.

“Jordan was playing well, especially in the second set, he was not missing much and going for his shots,” he said.

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