Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis’s doubles campaign at the Brisbane International has come to an end after an entertaining tiebreak decider against France. 

Kyrgios and Kokkinakis looked set for an embarrassing loss at Pat Rafter Arena after copping a first-set ‘bagel’ in their round-of-16 doubles match against number six seeds Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul.

The Special Ks fought back in style to take the second set 6-1 to rouse the crowd, but they could not recover from a disastrous 0-5 start to the first-to-10 match tiebreak.

The 6-0, 1-6, 10-6 defeat ended the Australians’ Brisbane International campaign, but fans still got their money’s worth.

It has left Australian Open officials with a conundrum — do they hand Kyrgios one of the three remaining singles wildcards for the first major of the year?

The way Kyrgios helped lift Kokkinakis when things looked at their glummest bodes well for the former Wimbledon finalist. 

Two male tennis players dressed in black, one helping the other up from the ground on the court.

Nick Kyrgios kept encouraging Thanasi Kokkinakis as the Australian duo fought back into the match. (AAP: Zain Mohammed)

Kyrgios was broken in his first service game with the winning point coming when Kokkinakis fell over and the ball was hit at him. 

The French duo continued to assert their dominance, with a series of unforced errors from Kyrgios and Kokkinakis proving costly.

At 0-5 down at the changeover, Kyrgios did his best to lift the spirits of his good mate. 

“When we overthink things, it’s not us,” Kyrgios told Kokkinakis.

“We play on instinct, then we feel it. Just play on instinct.”

Although it did not help them work back into the first set, Kokkinakis held to love to open the second set to finally get them on the board.

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With the Australians up 2-1 at the next changeover, Kyrgios continued to encourage Kokkinakis to play with freedom. 

The crowd erupted in the fourth game when Kokkinakis ended a huge rally with a thundering backhand winner.

Another backhand winner from Kokkinakis gave his team hope of snaring the break, and a double fault from Reboul handed it to the Australians.

At one point during the set, Kyrgios noticed his teammate was battling a sore neck, and gave him a quick massage.

Kokkinakis produced a powerful ace to give Australia a 4-1 lead and Kyrgios did a mini dance after producing a winner to snare another break and extend the lead to 5-1.

The duo wrapped up the set, but were facing defeat again after going 0-5 down in the match tiebreak.

Two male tennis players wearing white and blue high five on the court

Fabien Reboul and Sadio Doumbia took a 5-0 lead in the match tiebreak before winning 10-6. (AAP: Zain Mohammed)

They fought back to make it 8-6, but the French duo held firm under pressure to win the next two points and secure victory. 

Kyrgios and Kokkinakis were the toast of Melbourne when they won the Australian Open doubles in 2022.

Although injuries have cruelled the duo since, they started the Brisbane International in impressive style with a shock three-sets win over grand slam champions Matt Ebden and Rajeev Ram.

“A little word for Kokkinakis and Kyrgios — they’ve had a lot of injuries, so very happy to see them in the tournament again, and I hope we will have many other battles,” Reboul said after Wednesday’s match.

AAP

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