Rafael Nadal needed four sets to get past Nick Kyrgios (Image credit: Getty)
Nick Kyrgios put up a spirited display against Rafael Nadal, but it wasn’t enough for the Australian.
The home crowd cheered Kyrgios on, but Nadal won the fourth round clash in four sets.
Nadal was in control for most of the game, except the second set, and Kyrgios mounter a spirited fight in the fourth set.
However, that was not enough as Nadal won the tie-breaker and reached another quarter-final. The 33-year-old is looking for a 20th Grand Slam and a second Australian Open, but he is keeping things simple.
John McEnroe was conducting the post-match interview on court and highlighted that Nadal had reached a 41st quarter-final.
However, Nadal was just thinking of taking it one game at a time, and wasn’t getting ahead of himself:
“I just feel happy that I won one more match tonight, an important one. That gives me the possibility to keep going in this tournament, the possibility to play one more time in this amazing court and that makes me happy, that’s all.”
Nadal is one of the favourites to pick up the Australian Open, and the Spaniard looks to be in great shape.
He won’t have it easy in the quarter-final though as he faces Dominic Thiem. The Austrian got the better of Gael Monfils in the previous round, and it will be interesting to see how things go in the clash.
Nadal has been in exceptional form over the past two years, however, there are some top players left in the competition.
Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer are the second and third seeds, respectively, while Stan Wawrinka and Alexander Zverev are also eyeing the title.
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Thiem is the fifth seed and the clash with Nadal could be one of the best matches of the Australian Open.
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