HALLE WESTFALEN, June 14 — Nick Kyrgios confirmed that Saturday’s Stuttgart racism incident is now just a memory after starting this week’s ATP event in Halle with a solid victory on Tuesday.

The crowd-pleasing Australian sent over eight aces and never faced a break point in his Halle debut as he beat German Daniel Altmeier 6-3, 6-5 to reach the second round.

The 72-minute win was a tonic for the semi-finalist who faced a smattering of racist abuse from the stands at the weekend in Stuttgart as he lost 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 to Andy Murray.

“You’ve got to have a short term memory in this game,” the number 65 said.

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“In most of my matches I’m the favourite of the crowd all over the world.

“But I’ve been dealing with it (racism) for the last few years. At Indian Wells someone screamed (something racist) at Naomi Osaka and it affected the match.” The 27-year-old added: “I’m not going to stand for racism. It’s not easy for me to brush it off. It’s hard to just move on from something like that.” The wild card said he’s been a target more than most.

“I’ve dealt with it more than anyone. I can deal with the heckling and nasty things that are said, I’ve played in some brutal conditions.

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“But racism — we can’t stand for that as players.” Kyrgios said it’s nothing personal from his side: “I want to put on a show, I have nothing against the crowd but we need to keep within the rules.” — AFP