Crowd favorite Kokkinakis surprises tennis player Rublev in Adelaide

Australian tennis player Thanasi Kokkinakis made a name for himself again at an ATP tournament in his hometown of Adelaide. The crowd favorite upset Russian No. 1 seed Andrej Rublev in an Australian Open warm-up tournament 6-4 3-6 6-3.

Kokkinakis, 26, is the defending champion of the Adelaide tournament, where an ATP tournament was also held last week. Then the world number 110 lost in the second round to the Italian Jannik Sinner.

Rublev is the world number 6. He is still waiting for his first victory this season. Last week he lost to Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut in Adelaide. The Russian now travels to Melbourne for the Australian Open, where he was already knocked out in the third round by Croatian Marin Cilic last year.

The number 1 on the placement list was also eliminated during the ATP tournament in Auckland. The Norwegian Casper Ruud, world number 3, lost in a thrilling three-set match 3-6 6-3 7-6 (3) against Serbian Laslo Djere, 70th in the world ranking.

The match between Ruud and Djere was played on an indoor arena. The weather has been hampering the tournament in New Zealand for days. Last week, part of the women’s tournament was also forced to be played on the indoor courts.

The Australian Open starts on Monday.