Top-seeded Federer shocked by Kyrgios on Madrid clay

Young Australian beats Swiss as Murray sees off Kohlschreiber at 3am

Australia young gun Nick Kyrgios knocked top seed Roger Federer out of the Madrid Open on Wednesday with a stunning 6-7 (2/7), 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (14/12) victory.

Kyrgios, who beat Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon last year, sent down 22 aces to Federer’s 15 and next faces John Isner of the United States.

“I’ve been playing well recently on the clay, so I knew I had a good chance to go out there and do well. I stuck to my game and served well and I got the win,” said Kyrgios who was runner-up on clay at Estoril last weekend. “I guess that’s why you play the game, to play on these big courts against these big players. He’s the greatest of alltime, no doubt.”

Top seed Federer saved five match points in the deciding tiebreaker while having two of his own annulled by the big-hitting Australian, ranked 35th.

Poor returns

“I couldn’t return his first serve, I had a horrible performance on return of serve,” said Federer. “That made life difficult for me.

Meanwhile, second seeded Andy Murray went through, beating Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 in a second round tie that finished at just after 3am on Thursday.

Nadal returned to his clay court comfort zone, starting his campaign for a fifth Madrid Open title with a 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Steve Johnson.

Women’s top seed Serena Williams and defending champion Maria Sharapova survived marathon three-setters to reach the quarter-finals.

“I could have won, she could have won. I ended up winning and I don’t know how,” said Williams after her 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 7-6 (7/1) win. “I feel like it was intense.”

Third seed Sharapova went two and a half hours before seeing off Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.