HOUSTON, April 12, 2018 - Nick Kyrgios rallied from the first set loss to defeat unseeded American Bjorn Fratangelo 6-7 (2/7), 6-1, 6-2 in the second round of the US Men's Claycourt Championship. The 22-year-old Australian fourth seed hammered 21 aces and broke Fratangelo's serve four times in the one hour, 32 minute match. Kyrgios is making his debut in the event and is seeking his first career claycourt title. He has been hampered by injuries this season, pulling out of Rotterdam, Delray Beach, Indian Wells and Acapulco tournaments with back and elbow problems. He returned for the Miami Open last month where he reached the fourth round before losing to Germany's Alexander Zverev. Kyrgios advances to the quarterfinals where he will play Ivo Karlovic who eased past qualifier Denis Kudla 7-5, 7-5. Meanwhile, Serena and Venus Williams have opted out of the United States team to face France in the Fed Cup semifinals, the US Tennis Association (USTA) announced on Wednesday. The sisters played in the first-round win over the Netherlands in North Carolina in February but have decided not to make the trip to France for the semifinal at Aix-en-Provence on April 21-22. Serena, a 23-time major singles champion, marked her return to action in the first-round tie after 13 months away from the sport to give birth to her first daughter and get married. She lost the 'dead' doubles rubber with Venus in that match against the Dutch. Venus, meanwhile, won both her singles for the defending champions. Serena's return to the WTA tour has not gone smoothly with a third-round defeat to Venus at Indian Wells followed by a first-round exit at the hands of Naomi Osaka in Miami. With both sisters absent, US captain Kathy Rinaldi has instead called up US Open champion and world No 9 Sloane Stephens, world number 13 Madison Keys, 16th-ranked CoCo Vandeweghe and former top-ranked doubles player Bethanie Mattek-Sands. France will feature world number 19 Kristina Mladenovic, Pauline Parmentier, ranked at 120, and number 195 Amandine Hesse – the same trio which defeated Belgium 3-2 in the first round. The other semifinal sees Germany host 10-time Fed Cup champions Czech Republic in Stuttgart. Julia Goerges and former world No 1 Angelique Kerber, the 2016 Australian and US Open champion, spearhead the German challenge. World No 6 Karolina Pliskova and 10th-ranked two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova will bear the burden of singles play for the Czechs who have won five of the last seven Fed Cups.
