Australian Open: Nadal imposes its solvency on the instability of Kyrgios and is already in quarters

It expires in 218 minutes (6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4)) and is measured at Thiem. On his side of the painting, Wawrinka also knocks Medvedev down.

• Picture.
  

  Eighth Results
  

• Nadal vs Kyrgios.
  

  Narration and statistics
  

The threat of Nick Kyrgios was not enough to end Rafael Nadal, much more stable and already in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, where this Wednesday is measured with Dominic Thiem. I won in three hours 38 minutes (6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (6) and 7-6 (4))). The Australian, whose dream would have been to play in the NBA, warmed up with Kobe Bryant's shirt, in homage to his deceased intent. Then, he did what was expected of him: to combine sublime moments with unassuming mischief in a confrontation of such a demand. He left the first set so far in the tournament the 2009 champion and four times finalist, but enters the decisive trances with good looks, forgetting the hesitations of the first rounds. The day threw another good news for him: Stan Wawrinka surprised Daniil Medvedev, arduous competitor in the final of the United States Open where the left-hander achieved his nineteenth Grand Slam title and called to cross with him in Melbourne in some hypothetical semifinals. It will be the Swiss and Alexander Zverev who measure themselves in rooms.

It took little to appear the erotic and monologant Kyrgios, with poor selection of blows. In front of him, a Nadal in the line demonstrated in the third round match with Pablo Carreo. The Spanish broke in the fourth game, where his rival err in tentative paths left. In the beginning, the game was far from the predicament awakened by the brief but juicy rivalry between them. Kyrgios embodies the bad, irreverent boy, with supposed arguments to question the established order. Nadal, who continues to shamelessly cultivate his well-earned image of fair play, is on the side of the law.

The Australian has a germ of self-destruction in his own nature. He is a creative player, different from everyone, but who depends too much on his temper and his magnificent service, in addition to falling too often in frivolity. Constant, Cartesian in his approaches, Nadal barely let him live, moving him from one place to another, particularly thanks to his crossed strokes, either with the inverted right or with the revs. His were the majority of long exchanges. Already with the first set on his side, he had two break balls at the start of the second. I did not convert them, but he left samples of the fragility of his rival, who knows if he has recovery problems after the four hours and 26 minutes he needs to beat Karen Khachanov.

Maddening tiebreaker

But the Australian, 23, can become very dangerous in the face of any slip, even more quickly. Nadal had it in the fourth game of the second set, which escaped him and put the local player in rite, in the process of feedback with the stands, quite divided by the sympathies that the number 1 of the world awakens wherever he goes. Since beating him in the second round of Wimbledon 2014, in his cover letter, Kyrgios has always been a disturbing adversary for the left-hander, who, however, had defeated him in four of his seven previous clashes, the most recent last ao on the grass of the London Grand Slam.

With the unexpected reaction of Kyrgios, which profited the breakto match a set, the game took another temperature. Nadal could break in the ninth game, but the third set was defined in a maddening tiebreaker. The Australian doubled with 5-5 and service and followed the same path Nadal with his first set ball. He will not waste the second, culminated after a shipment to the network of his opponent. Kyrgios, who delivered his serve in the third game of the fourth set, did not lower his arms, eager to offer something more to his own. I managed to match five and save two balls of break, to appear in a new tie break. Ah, Nadal's firmness and experience prevailed again. “When he plays like today he brings many positive things to this sport,” said the Spaniard at the foot of the track about his opponent.