Australian teenager Nick Kyrgios caused a sensational upset as he beat world number one Rafael Nadal to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon. The 19-year-old wildcard's huge serve helped him to a 7-6 (7-5) 5-7 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 victory on his Centre Court debut, and he will play Milos Raonic next.
Ranked 144, Kyrgios is the first man outside the top 100 to beat a world number one at a Grand Slam since 1992. Nadal, 27, has failed to make the last eight at Wimbledon since 2011.
It was a performance of brutal inventiveness and uninhibited bludgeoning from a man who had had to save nine match points in his second round win against Richard Gasquet and his reward is a clash with Canada’s Milos Raonic for a place in the semi-finals.
For Nadal, the 2008 and 2010 champion, it was a third successive disappointing Wimbledon with Tuesday’s fourth round loss following a first round exit last year and a second round defeat in 2012.
But he cannot argue with the statistics of Tuesday’s Centre Court demolition which showed Kyrgios firing 37 aces and 70 winners as a new star was born. “I was in a bit of a zone out there. It hasn’t sunk in at all what’s just played out out there,” said Kyrgios. “I played some extraordinary tennis. I was struggling a little bit on return but I worked my way into it and I got that break in the fourth set. I served at a really good level all throughout the match so I was really happy.”
He said he always believed he could cause a sensation regardless of the status of Nadal who had arrived at Wimbledon having wrapped up a ninth French Open title. “You’ve got to believe that you can win the match from the start and I definitely thought that. I’m playing some unbelievable tennis on the grass.”
For the fourth match in succession at this year’s Wimbledon, Nadal dropped the first set against a confident Kyrgios, the player of Greek-Malaysian origin firing 13 aces and 22 winners past the bewildered Spaniard in the opener.
The Australian, showing no stagefright on his Centre Court bow, showed a brash disregard for the occasion, attempting a cheeky ‘tweener’ (hitting the ball from between the legs) in the seventh game of the second set.
But Nadal then levelled the tie by converting the first break points of the match in the 12th game.
That would usually signal the beginning of the end for an opponent of Nadal, but Kyrgios dug deep to seize his moment.
He saved a set point in the 12th game of the third set before again dominating the tiebreak to take it courtesy of a vicious run around forehand cross-courter off a Nadal second serve.
With Nadal wilting beneath the barrage, Kyrgios broke for a 3-1 lead in the fourth set and he wasn’t going to let up. He worked his way confidently to three match points but only needed one with his 37th ace shooting past the flat-footed Nadal.
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