The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
NADAL STOPS ANIMATED KYRGIOS
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA — Rafael Nadal left the muttering, the preening and the underarm serving to his younger, flashier opponent, Nick Kyrgios. Surely, the No. 1-ranked Nadal was content to collect the win in the latest installment of their rivalry.
Nadal kept his thoughts to himself and limited his shot-making to the more traditional variety in a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4) win Monday over home-crowd favorite Kyrgios to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals and get closer to a record-tying 20th Grand Slam title.
These two guys don’t like each other. But Nadal had nothing but nice things to say after improving his head-to-head record to 5-3 against Kyrgios. “When he wants to play, when he is focused on what he’s doing, I think he’s a very important player for our sport,“Nadal said, “because he has a big talent and is one of these players that can be very, very interesting for the crowd.”
While Kyrgios was up to some of his usual trick shots and antics, what he never did was waver in his effort, something folks often accuse him of. “Today,” Nadal said, “I think he played very serious, tried all the time his best.”
It certainly meant a lot to Kyrgios, who said: “I’m shattered to have lost tonight. These are the matches that I want to win the most.”
Here’s how the elevated stakes and tension affected both men: At 5-all in the pivotal third-set tiebreaker, Kyrgios double-faulted. That offered up a gift-wrapped set point. But Nadal failed to take advantage because he double-faulted 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.
But Nadal regrouped and pulled the win out in the closing tiebreaker, which ended with Kyrgios putting a forehand into the net.
On Wednesday, 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. The other men’s quarterfinal on the top half of the bracket is No. 7 Alexander Zverev vs. No. 15 Stan Wawrinka.
In other key results Monday, No. 5 Thiem beat No. 10 Gael Monfils 6-2, 6-4, 6-4; No. 7 Alexander Zverev beat No. 17 Andrey Rublev 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; and No. 15 Wawrinka beat No. 4 Daniil Medvedev 6-2, 2-6, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2. In the women’s fourth round, No. 4 Simona Halep beat No. 16 Elise Mertens 6-4, 6-4; Garbine Muguruza beat No. 9 Kiki Bertens 6-3, 6-3; No. 28 Anett Kontaveit beat Iga Switek 6-7 (4), 7-5, 7-5; and No. 30 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat No. 17 Angelique Kerber 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4), 6-2.