With win, Kyrgios seizes center stage

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.

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. The 17thseeded Kyrgios won the last five points after falling behind 5-2 in the tiebreaker.

“Playing Jo, I was obviously very nervous,” 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.

“He was a guy I looked up to as a kid (and) still do.”

Third-ranked Grigor Dimitrov beat No. 30 Andrey Rublev 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to secure a spot in the fourth round against Kyrgios, who beat Dimitrov at the Brisbane International last month on the way to the title.

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 last year’s 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 a 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 win. He will play No. 24 Diego Schwartzman, who beat Aleksandr Dolgopolov 6-7 (1), 6-2, 6-3, 6-3.

In women’s play, French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko didn’t make it to the second week, losing 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to 32nd-seeded Anett Kontaveit.

Ostapenko’s loss left only two major champions in the women’s draw. Only one of them can reach the fourth round — Maria Sharapova meets Angelique Kerber to determine which one.

Second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki advanced 6-4, 6-3 over No. 30 Kiki Bertens and No. 4 seed Elina Svitolina ended 15year-old Marta Kostyuk’s run with a 6-2, 6-2 victory.