The same injury that kept Nick Kyrgios from defending his title at the BB&T Atlanta Open last year forced him to retire a quarterfinal match against Cameron Norrie on Friday night.
It wasn’t the nagging elbow injury that kept him out of the French Open but a pain in his left hip that took the Aussie out midway through the second set. Before playing in Atlanta, Kyrgios said he felt OK, but noticed his hip at 3-all in the first set.
Norrie would go on to take the opening set 7-5 and was up 3-0 in the second before his opponent stopped the match. Kyrgios’ retirement automatically advanced Norrie to the semifinals, where he will face American Ryan Harrison.
Kyrgios is slated to play in the Citi Open next week, but his participation there may be in jeopardy after the hip injury.
“At this stage, I’ll head to Washington (D.C.) and (receive medical attention) to see what I can do moving forward,” he said after the match.
Kyrgios was the No. 2 seed behind John Isner. It appeared the two would meet in the finals for a rematch of the 2016 championship, but the retirement ended Kyrgios’ tournament run earlier than expected.
