Unseeded Nick Kyrgios once again showed why he is capable of winning a Grand Slam, coming off a stellar performance of tennis by defeating fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in a men’s singles third round match on Saturday, July 2. In a wild match that raged on both sides of the net, Kyrgios came back from behind to beat Tsitsipas 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(7) in 3 hours and 17 minutes defeated.
Mercurial Nick Kyrgios was at his provocative best as he successfully got under the skin of Stefanos Tsitsipas, who lost his momentum after winning the opening set. Kyrgios, who wanted Tsitsipas to miss to hit a ball into the crowd in despair, saw his best performances in the second and third sets as he was seeded fourth.
However, both men focused on the task in the fourth set, which enthused the crowd at Court One. Fans were on the edge of their seats for the most part of the fourth set as Kyrgios and Tsitsipas hit some surprising winners and fired those aces at will.
However, Kyrgios seemed the more excited of the two when he went to the set tie-breaker. The Australian star held his nerves and saved a set point to win the match and make it to the fourth round of Wimbledon for the first time since 2016.
box office.@nickkirgios beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(7)#wimbledon pic.twitter.com/pEz7tltCOd
— Wimbledon (@wimbledon) 2 July 2022
Kyrgios missed several break point chances in the fourth set but he also saved a few chances. Despite converting only 2 break points out of 14, Kyrgios managed to close the match in 4 sets.
Kyrgios will face United States’ Brandon Nakashima, who is ranked 57th in the world, for a place in the quarter-finals.
Nadal in second week
Earlier in the day, 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal reached the fourth round of Wimbledon for the 10th time in his career. The Spaniard continued his winning streak at this year’s Grand Slam after beating 27th seeded Italian Lorenzo Sonego in straight sets.
Nadal dominated for most of the match as he did not allow Sonego to settle down in any form after beating the Italian 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 despite breaking once in the third set.
Nadal has now won 17 consecutive Grand Slam matches this year as he keeps his calendar Slam dreams alive after winning the Australian Open and the French Open.
Nadal, 36, will now take on 21st seed Bottic van de Jandschulp of the Netherlands for a place in the quarter-finals.