MELBOURNE, Australia — Nick Kyrgios put aside a bloody hand, a hamstring issue, a tiff with the chair umpire and a resilient opponent who saved a pair of match points.
When the Australian Open third-round thriller ended after about 4 1/2 hours Saturday, Kyrgios dropped to his back behind the baseline. Guess what’s next for the home-crowd favorite? A much-anticipated matchup with a familiar but decidedly not friendly foe: No. 1 Rafael Nadal.
Kyrgios got past No. 16 Karen Khachanov 6-2, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (6), 6-7 (7), 7-6 (8) with the help of 33 aces and what sounded like an entire country of supporters in the stands.
“This is just epic, man,” Kyrgios said. “Like, I don’t even know what’s going on.”
Kyrgios was a point from winning at 6-5 in the third-set tiebreaker, then again an hour later at 8-7 in the fourth-set tiebreaker, but he needed yet another hour to pull out the victory when Khachanov pushed a backhand wide.
“I was losing it mentally, a little bit,” Kyrgios said. “I thought I was going to lose, honestly.”
Along the way, he hit a dive-and-roll backhand, scraped his knuckles and, after wiping the blood, was warned for a time violation. That set off Kyrgios, who explained why play was delayed and said to the chair umpire, “Are you stupid? Well, take it back then.”
There are sure to be more fireworks Monday during the eighth edition of Nadal vs. Kyrgios. Even so, Kyrgios tried to downplay the animosity Saturday, saying: “Whatever happens between us, he’s an amazing player. Arguably, he’s the greatest of all-time.”
So far, Nadal holds a 4-3 head-to-head edge, including a contentious win in their last meeting, at Wimbledon last July.
Nadal was not thrilled that Kyrgios hit a ball right at him in that match. Kyrgios took a different sort of shot at Nadal a few days ago in Melbourne, mimicking the 33-year-old Spaniard’s series of mannerisms before he hits a serve.
“It’s clear, of course, that when he does stuff that in my opinion is not good, I don’t like (it). When he plays good tennis and he shows passion for this game, he is a positive player for our tour, and I want my tour bigger, not smaller. So the players who make the tour bigger are important for the tour,” Nadal said. “When he’s ready to play his best tennis and play with passion, (he) is one of these guys. When he’s doing the other stuff, of course I don’t like (it).”
Nadal advanced with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 victory over 27th-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta that required fewer than 100 minutes.
In the women’s draw, meanwhile, top seeds continued to fall. No. 2 Karolina Pliskova, No. 5 Elina Svitolina and No. 6 Belinda Bencic all lost in straight sets, meaning nine of the top 13 seeds already are gone.
Simona Halep, who is seeded fourth, stuck around by beating Yulia Putintseva, 6-1, 6-4.
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