Cheque glee for Millman
ROGER Federer taunted Nick Kyrgios for his shot-making audacity after delivering a tennis masterclass to send the Canberran packing from the US Open in New York.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion swept past Kyrgios 6-4, 6-1, 7-5 in their muchhyped third-round clash at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Federer’s victory set up a last-16 meeting with another Australian, the unseeded John Millman, for a place in the quarter-finals.
Gracious in defeat, Kyrgios lamented not converting any of four break-point chances in the seventh game of the opening set, in which he had Federer down love-40.
“I take one of those points, the match is wide open,” said Kyrgios.
“He’s not going to play as well as he did towards the end of the first set or into the second set. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out.”
While it was opportunity lost for Kyrgios, Federer raised his game to imperious levels after the reprieve.
At one point, the Swiss marvel played a jaw-dropping around-the-net-post forehand winner that left even his van- quished opponent in awe. “Oh my god,” Kyrgios said. ‘‘Yeah, it was unbelievable.’’ Federer felt Kyrgios paid the price for attempting a lowpercentage fancy drop shot at 40-15 while trying to serve for a 6-5 lead in the third set.
When it caught the net, Federer took full advantage, breaking Kyrgios for a fourth time before closing out the match the very next game.
“He should have hit a normal forehand in the open court and he chooses to go for sort of the drop shot, which at the end cost him the match,” former world No.1 Federer said. AUSTRALIAN battler John Millman has struck grand slam gold, booking a dream US Open date with Roger Federer and banking a cheque for $370,000 to boot.
“I will definitely go to the prizemoney desk and collect my cheque. That’s for sure,” Millman said after his lifechanging 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 third-round triumph over Mikhail Kukushkin at Flushing Meadows.
In addition to his first-time appearance in a grand slam second week, he will also crack the world’s top 50 for the first time and earn a place on the Davis Cup team for Australia’s historic tie against Austria this month.