Australian Nick Kyrgios has powered into the singles semifinals at Wimbledon 2022.
London, Great Britain, 7 July 2022 | Leigh Rogers
Nick Kyrgios has become the first Australian to advance to a Wimbledon gentlemen’s singles semifinal in 17 years.
The world No.40 powered past Chile’s Cristian Garin in the quarterfinals today, scoring a 6-4 6-3 7-6(5) victory in their No.1 Court showdown.
“I just never thought I’d be in the semifinals at a Grand Slam,” an emotional Kyrgios revealed in his on-court interview after the match. “I thought my ship had sailed … I didn’t go about things great earlier in my career and may have wasted that little window, but I’m really proud.”
A first Grand Slam semi-final ✅@NickKyrgios defeats Cristian Garin 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(5)#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/irn1vbb7DP
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 6, 2022
There were some worrying early signs for Kyrgios, who was contesting his first Grand Slam quarterfinal in more than seven years.
The 27-year-old Australian was broken to love in the opening game and lost the first nine points of the match. Yet he managed to quickly find his range and snare a 37-minute opening set.
With the momentum firmly in his favour, Kyrgios raced ahead 4-1 in the second set and soon built a two-sets-to-love lead.
World No.43 Garin heaped the pressure on Kyrgios in the third set, earning multiple break point opportunities on the Australian’s serve in the sixth game. However, the 26-year-old Chilean was unable to take his chances.
When he was tested, Kyrgios simply had too many answers. He demonstrated that again in a third-set tiebreak, clawing back from a 3-5 deficit to win four consecutive points and close out victory after two hours and 11 minutes on court.
Kyrgios, who finished the match with 17 aces and 35 winners in total, becomes the 13th Australian man to reach a Wimbledon singles semifinal in the Open era – and the first to do so since Lleyton Hewitt in 2005.
| Wimbledon gentlemen’s singles Australian semifinalists – Open era |
|
| Player | Year |
| Rod Laver | 1968, 1969 |
| Tony Roche | 1968, 1969, 1975 |
| John Newcombe | 1969, 1970, 1971 |
| Ken Rosewall | 1970, 1971, 1974 |
| Rod Frawley | 1981 |
| Mark Edmondson | 1982 |
| Pat Cash | 1984, 1987 |
| Jason Stoltenberg | 1996 |
| Todd Woodbridge | 1997 |
| Pat Rafter | 1999, 2000, 2001 |
| Lleyton Hewitt | 2002, 2005 |
| Mark Philippoussis | 2003 |
| Nick Kyrgios | 2022 |
Kyrgios is the first unseeded male player to reach a Wimbledon…
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