If the roof had been on Rod Laver Arena it would have blown off as a zealous home crowd roared Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis into an unlikely Australian Open doubles final.
Laver himself was in the house on Thursday afternoon to watch the unseeded pair, who have both shocked and awed their competition and the public, storm past Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 7-6(7-4), 6-4.
They will face Matt Ebden and Max Purcell in Saturday’s final – the first all-Australian men’s doubles decider since 1980 – after Ebden and Purcell beat second seeds Rajeev Ram (America) and Joe Salisbury (Britain) 6-3, 7-6(11-9).
“I have played a lot of singles matches around the globe with amazing atmospheres,” Kyrgios said afterwards. “But this week with Thanasi playing in front of you, nothing beats this. This is insane.”
The spectators came in higher numbers than their previous matches at Kia Arena after Tennis Australia let ground pass holders through the gates of centre court. But those in attendance witnessed less showboating and skulduggery than they might have expected.
Before there was a sense Kyrgios and Kokkinakis were playing mainly to entertain, now they were also playing to win.
And win they did, despite a tight first set that stayed on serve all the way to a tie-break. Their opponents, both about decade the Australians’ seniors, moved in tandem with a smoothness expected of the third seeds and last year’s Wimbledon runners-up, and Granollers targeted Kyrgios at the net.
The Australians continued unabated, serving aces (13 all up) and sending down 32 winners to 21.
They included a Kokkinakis backhand winner down the line and a big Kyrgios second serve of 198km/h to help them to 5-5. It was until 6-5 that Granollers and Zeballos won more than a single point on the Australians’ serve but Kokkinakos, who received a time violation warning, served an ace en route to setting up a tie-break.
Cue the start of the Kyrgios verbals. “Can you be quiet while I serve you numbnut,” Kyrgios barked back to one spectator who yelled something out before jagging an early mini-break. Kyrgios utilised a short backswing on more than one occasion to counter Zeballos’s serve and, by the time they raced to a 5-2 lead, were effectively unassailable.
They returned for the second set riding the same momentum and won seven consecutive points to take the opening game and a crucial early break point. Granollers and Zeballos clawed back to deuce but could not stop Kokkinakis, who was freed up for a deft forehand winner.
Things were apparently going to plan – until Kyrgios began to betray signs of pressure. Up 4-2 but down 15-40, the 26-year-old gave the chair umpire some lip and then served a fault, before pumping a high-velocity second serve and then following it up with such composure it could not be answered.
In the very next point he set up Kokkinakis for a winner and he duly obliged. Still, there was tension with the crowd, and again Kyrgios made his feelings known. After going down a break point, the umpire asked the crowd to remain quiet between serves. It was not enough. Granollers and Zeballos broke back, and Kyrgios’s racket lay smashed on the court.
He was given a warning and went to the change of ends mouthing off. “Again, and again, and again,” he said in reference to spectators calling out before serves, “and still you say nothing.”
Kokkinakos was a picture of calm amid the mayhem around him, but so were the players up the other end, and their superior experience came to the fore to level at 4-4. Kokkinakis, unflappable, got his team out of trouble on serve to lead 5-4 and receive for the match.
“I think both of us bring something different, different energy, different sort of charisma on the court,” Kokkinakis said. “But we just enjoy it and we have fun and that shows, and that is why hopefully you guys watch us. But I think we are unpredictable and that is why they enjoy it.”
Kyrgios said they would not take Ebden and Purcell lightly in Saturday night’s meeting, again on Rod Laver Arena, following the women’s singles final which will potentially feature another Australian, Ash Barty.
“They are obviously playing some good tennis, it is the final,” he said. “I am looking forward to it and is great to see Aussies having success – and obviously Ash on the women’s side is doing her thing – I am just looking forward to it.”
