Australian Open: Rafael Nadal overcomes Nick Kyrgios in fourth round classic

Nathan Williamson

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Australian Open: Rafael Nadal overcomes Nick Kyrgios in fourth round classic image

World number one Rafael Nadal has overcome Nick Kyrgios to book his place in the Australian Open quarter-finals.

In a gruelling encounter, the 19-time grand slam champion outlasted a valiant Kyrgios 6-3 3-6 7-6(6) 7-6(4) in a contest that went for over 3 hours and 40 minutes.

During the pre-match warm-ups, Kyrgios was visibly upset as he honoured the passing of NBA and Lakers legend Kobe Bryant by wearing his jersey.

This appeared to be weighing on him during the opening games, with the world number one racing out to a 3-1 lead.

Nadal would continue to pepper the 24-year-old and run him ragged, controlling the first set to take it 6-3.

It appeared like the Spaniard would stroll away with the contest after earning three break points in the Australian’s opening service game.

However, Kyrgios hung tough, saving the opportunities and converting his own with a pin-point lob to push himself ahead 4-1.

He would rally in front of the raucous home-crowd, sealing the set 6-3 to level the contest at one set all.

Both players would incredibly find another gear in the third set, trading sublime shots as they managed to keep the set on-serve.

The tense nature of the game appeared to be getting to Kyrgios at the end of the 11th game, taking issue with a linesman and accusing him of laughing at him.

"You ruined the whole flow of the game," he said.

"We're giving 130% and he can get line calls right.

"It's not a game, it's not a joke...why are you laughing?"


Whilst the 23rd seed would remain composed to send it to a tiebreak, it would boil over during this period, receiving a code violation for smashing his racquet and losing the tie-breaker 8-6.



This looked like being the turning point in the match, with Kyrgios broken to love, allowing Nadal to take an early 3-1 lead in the fourth set.

However, the Aussie would continue to fight, breaking the world number one as he served for the match to stay in the contest.


Despite his best efforts, Nadal would end up taking the tie-breaker 7-4 to book his place in the quarter-final.

He will now face Austrian Dominic Thiem in the quarter-final after he beat 10th seed Gael Monfils in straight sets.

 

Nathan Williamson