Losing to Nadal at Aussie
Kyrgios honors Kobe before
MELBOURNE, Australia — Rafael Nadal left the muttering and the preening, the underarm serving and the ‘tweening, to his younger, flashier opponent, Nick Kyrgios.
Surely, Nadal was content to collect the win in the latest installment of their rivalry.
The No. 1-ranked Nadal kept his thoughts to himself and limited his shot-making to the more traditional variety in an entertaining 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4) victory over home-crowd favorite Kyrgios on Monday to reach the Australian
Open quarterfinals and get closer to a recordtying 20th Grand Slam title.
Kyrgios delivered 25 aces and some memorable moments — including walking out on court and warming up for the match in a No. 8 Los Angeles Lakers jersey to honor Kobe Bryant, the five-time NBA champion and 18-time AllStar who died in a helicopter crash Sunday at age 41.
Kyrgios switched to a No. 24 Bryant shirt for his postmatch news conference and described himself as emotional at the news.
A video tribute to Bryant was played on the Rod Laver Arena scoreboards before Monday's match.
At 5-all in the pivotal thirdset tiebreaker, Kyrgios double-faulted. That offered up a gift-wrapped set point. But Nadal failed to take advantage because he doublefaulted right back.
Still, two points later, the 23rd-seeded Kyrgios put a forehand into the net, and the set was Nadal's. Not long after, Kyrgios double-faulted again to get broken at love.
That put Nadal ahead 2-1 in the fourth, seemingly in charge.
Sure enough, Nadal faltered while serving for the win at 5-4, double-faulting to create a pair of break points, the second of which Kyrgios converted with a jumping forehand and celebrated by throwing his head back and screaming. Spectators rose and roared and waved their Australian flags in support of the 24-year-old from Canberra.
“A scary game,” Nadal called it, acknowledging he was hampered by nerves. But he regrouped and pulled the win out in the closing tiebreaker, which ended with Kyrgios putting a forehand into the net.
Nadal finished with more than twice as many winners as unforced errors, 64-27.
“I'd have to win a point three times to win a point,” Kyrgios said.
On Wednesday, the 33year-old Nadal's 41st career Grand Slam quarterfinal will be against No. 5 Dominic Thiem in a rematch of the past two French Open finals, both won by Nadal.
BARTY, KENIN ADVANCE TO SEMIS
Top-ranked Ash Barty is into the semifinals, keeping alive her chances of being the first Australian to win her national championship in 42 years.
Barty beat two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 7-6 (6), 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena and will next play Sofia Kenin, who beat Ons Jabeur in the first quarterfinal earlier on the same court.
The last Australian to win the national title was Chris O'Neil in 1978 . ... Wimbledon champions Goran Ivanisevic and Conchita Martinez were elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame.