Aussie Kyrgios puts on a show
MELBOURNE, Australia — With Will Smith in the crowd and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga across the net, Nick Kyrgios was in his element as the main attraction for a night at the Australian Open. Time to put on a show. One of his favorite actors — Smith was making his Grand Slam debut as a spectator — watched Friday as Kyrgios held his composure to beat childhood hero Tsonga, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), in the third round. Kyrgios, seeded 17th, won the final five points after falling behind, 5-2, in the tiebreaker.
For an Australian public desperate to see a first homegrown winner of the men’s national title since 1976, a seemingly reinvigorated Kyrgios could be the redemption story of the tournament.
“Playing Jo, I was obviously very nervous. He was a guy I looked up to as a kid. Still do,” Kyrgios said in an on-court interview, recounting how he brought a ball to be signed by Tsonga every day when the Frenchman reached the Australian Open final in 2008.
Then he gave a nod to Smith, an actor he would pick to play the role of Kyrgios if there was a movie to be made.
“When I saw him out here I was so nervous. No joke,” Kyrgios said. “People think I’m cool, but I wanted him to think I was the coolest person ever.”
Cool was the optimal word late on Day 5, when a threatening heat wave subsided and no matches were suspended despite searing temperatures hitting 104 degrees at Melbourne Park for a secondday in a row.
The Kyrgios-Tsonga match pushed top-ranked Rafael Nadal onto the No. 2 court at Melbourne Park for his match against Damir Dzumhur.
The change of scenery worked for Nadal, who lost the 2017 final to Roger Federer before going on to win the French Open and U.S. Open titles. Nadal reached the fourth round in Australia for the 11th time with the 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 win. He will next play No. 24 Diego Schwartzman, who beat Aleksandr Dolgopolov, 6-7 (1), 6-2, 6-3, 63.
The other French Open champion, Jelena Ostapenko, followed Nadal on Margaret Court Arena but didn’t make it through to the second week, losing, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to 32nd-seeded, Anett Kontaveit.
U.S. Open finalist Madison Keys is through to the fourth round after a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Ana Bogdan. Keys, seeded 17th, saved three break points serving for the match, finally clinching it on her first match point.