Naughty Nick expelled from Italian Open.
Kyrgios expelled as big three reach last eight in Rome
ROME: An action-packed day at the Italian Open was marred by an astonishing outburst from Australian Nick Kyrgios, who was expelled from the tournament after going wild in the third set of his match against Casper Ruud.
The incident overshadowed an outstanding day for Roger Federer, who reached the quarter-finals on his return to the tournament for the first time since 2016 with a 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (9-7) win over Borna Coric, having earlier beaten Joao Sousa.
Holder Rafael Nadal and world No. 1 Novak Djokovic also romped into the last eight with straight sets wins on a day featuring double bills for the top seeds after rain wiped out Wednesday’s play, with the Spaniard dropping only two games.
Kyrgios made an unsavoury exit from the tournament.
Trailing 2-1 in the third set, the Australian slammed his racquet into the ground, kicked a water bottle and tossed a chair towards the centre of the court before he shook hands with the umpire and his Norwegian opponent Ruud and walked out.
The outburst came after Kyrgios got a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct. Having already been handed a violation earlier, it meant the umpire also handed Kyrgios a game penalty.
Second seed Nadal blew away Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-0, 6-1 earlier in the day before breezing past Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-1, 6-0 and Djokovic spent a mere two hours and 10 minutes on the court in total.
The top seed brushed aside Denis Shapovalov 6-1, 6-3 followed by a 6-3, 6-0 destruction of Philipp Kohlschreiber in the late match on Centre Court.
Women’s world number one Naomi Osaka of Japan also had to double up as she reached her maiden Rome quarter-final with a pair of 6-3, 6-3 wins, overpowering Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova before sweeping aside Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnescu. — Reuters