Nick Kyrgios has shown flashes of his old magic and even a little argumentative spark as his comeback took something of a wobble against Japanese qualifier Sho Shimabukuro in the Wimbledon warm-up event in Stuttgart.
Returning after a wrist reconstruction and four knee surgeries, Kyrgios announced himself "thrilled to be back" after defeating world No.36 Corentin Moutet in Germany on Tuesday.
But the 31-year-old Aussie came up short on Thursday, losing 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 despite making a bright start against Shimabukuro, when flashes of his old flamboyance were in evidence.
He delighted the crowd, using an underarm serve to draw an unforced error from his opponent to claim the first set.
Shimabukuro hit back to win the second set in a tiebreak, and with the Kyrgios error count mounting as the match went on, he was able to close out victory in one hour and 52 minutes.
