"The pre-match build-up on court took place amid great emotion, with Kyrgios wearing Kobe Bryant's LA Lakers' number eight jersey as he walked on Rod Laver Arena to pay respect to Kyrgios was brought to tears as a video tribute to Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, who also died in the accident, was played just minutes before the match got underway. And his challange doesn't come off. And then two game points after a serve down the middle that Nadal can't return. A badly miscued forehand, and all of a sudden all that momentum is gone. He gets up for those matches and plays like he has nothing to lose. Kyrgios pinned Nadal deep back in his backhand corner but the Spaniard got down low and punched a cross-court winner. "Nadal and Kyrgios packed variety into their games, with both mixing up their pounding ground strokes with clever drop shots and occasional finesse at the net.Some of the rallies were breathtaking, almost to the point it seemed unfair that there had to be a winner and loser.Both players held serve in the opening set until the fourth game, when Nadal converted on a second break point as Kyrgios went long with a backhand return.Trailing 1-3, Kyrgios showed his first sign of frustration as he began berating his players box and he continued talking to himself at the change of ends after Nadal had held serve.But with a break of serve in his keeping, Nadal was never headed in the first set and he gained a crucial psychological advantage.Play was briefly halted before the second set when Nadal had a minor racquet drama, the delay attracting boos from the crowd.Nadal was unfazed by the reaction and had break points in the first game of the set, however Kyrgios did not panic and went on to hold serve.The turning point of the set came in the fourth game when Kyrgios broke Nadal for the first time, a desperate forehand return just clipping the baseline, prompting Kyrgios to launch into a frenzied celebration.He consolidated the break by serving to love to establish a 4-1 lead and with the remaining games of the set going on serve, Kyrgios was able to level proceedings.Neither gave an inch in the third set until the eighth game, when Kyrgios faced a break point but got himself out of jail on the back of his powerful serve.With the match moving beyond the two-hour mark, Kyrgios's emotions almost got the better of him when he offered a lengthy critique of a line judge's performance to chair umpire James Keothavong.He momentarily appeared flustered when serving to stay in the set at 5-6, although he was able to hold to send the third set into a tiebreak.After falling behind 1-3 in the tiebreak, Kyrgios incurred a code violation when he smashed a racquet, which he then attempted to throw into the crowd to a keen spectator.He did not chuck in the towel and eventually levelled at 5-5, however Nadal got himself back in front — despite blowing a set point — and eventually won the tiebreak 8-6, before clinching the victory in the thrilling fourth set.This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced.At multiple points throughout that match, Nick Kyrgios was playing about as well as a human can play tennis.
From here, Nadal will face Austria’s fifth seed Dominic Thiem in the quarter final, while Kyrgios departs with $300,000 and a decent launching pad for his season. At 3-2 his method seemed to be working, but Nadal weathered the blows and forged ahead. They were trading blows until Nadal decided he'd had enough and powered a backhand down the line. The mistakes were contagious. Nadal sends Kyrgios wide and the Aussie nets his backhand.
Kyrgios is trying for so much on these forehands and he's sent one long to give Nadal two more break points. And he holds again as he forces an error from Nadal. Kyrgios rips a cross-court passing shot attempt, but Nadal's backhand volley is perfect yet again. Excellent volleying from Kyrgios, pushing the backhand deep and hard and forcing the error.