Australian teenager Nick Kyrgios’ grand slam initiation ended with a straight sets defeat to Croatian tenth seed Marin Cilic in the French Open second round on Wednesday.
Following his superb first-round upset over Czech Radek Stepanek, Kyrgios unsurprisingly found the going much tougher as he fell 6-4 6-2 6-2 in the biggest match of his fledgling career.
Still, the 18-year-old – the youngest man in the singles draw – gave another good account of himself and will be sure to benefit from his first taste of the top level.
The world’s top-ranked junior had only earned a late wildcard call-up after injury forced compatriot John Millman to withdraw.
However he made the most of his chance when he surprised veteran Stepanek with a straight sets win on Monday.
Just as in that first-round triumph, Kyrgios started nervously against world No.11 Cilic on Wednesday, failing to win a point in the opening two games.
He grew into the match steadily but couldn’t make up lost ground as Cilic took a one-set lead.
The world No.262 suffered what appeared to be a left hamstring injury early in the second set, calling a trainer for treatment, and Cilic raced away with the set.
Kyrgios continued to fight hard in the final set but Cilic’s class shone through as he set up a third round match against either Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver or Serbian Viktor Troicki.
Kyrgios, who won the junior title at the Australian Open in January, is still expected to contest the junior event at Roland Garros.