Australian Open: Nick Kyrgios fixes dream round of 16 against Rafael Nadal with drama victory over Karen Khachanov
Nick Kyrgios has fixed the dream round of 16 against Rafael Nadal . In the third round, the Australian prevailed against Karen Khachnaov in five dramatic sentences. Stan Wawrinka against Daniil Medvedev is another hit in the round of 16.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Jan 25, 2020, 01:39 pm
The Australian Open have their dream round of 16: Nick Kyrgios will challenge Rafael Nadal, the world's number one, in the round of 16. The Australian was able to assert themselves in the third round in an extremely entertaining game against Karen Khachanov with 6: 2, 7: 6 (5), 6: 7 (6), 6: 7 (7) and 7: 6 (8).
In the first sentence, Kyrgios had to cope with a startling moment. The 24-year-old felt pain in the buttocks area and even had to be treated because of this. The Australian did not always appear completely fit afterwards, but Khachanov initially did not know how to use this after his epic five-set victory over Mikael Ymer.
So Kyrgios took a relatively comfortable 2: 0 lead, but then Khachanov came on and secured the next two rounds in the tie break. The Russian fended off a total of two match balls.
In the fifth set, neither player wanted to break again. As in the previous day, it went into a match tie-break between Roger Federer and John Millman . But this time the local hero should prevail: Kyrgios turned a 7: 8 back sand and won 10: 8 in the quick decision.
Also Wawrinka and Medvedev through
In the second round, Kyrgios will now face Rafael Nadal. The world number one won his third round game against Pablo Carreno Busta with 6: 1, 6: 2 and 6: 4 .
Another round ahead are Stan Wawrinka and Daniil Medvedev. At 6: 4 and 4: 1, Wawrinka benefited from an injury-related task from his opponent John Isner, Medvedev beat Alexei Poyprin, who was also stricken, with 6: 4, 6: 3 and 6: 2. The two now get to do it in the round of 16.
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