More than seven years after last reaching a Grand Slam quarterfinal, Nick Kyrgios is through to the last eight at Wimbledon after a five-set win over Brandon Nakashima.
London, UK, 5 July 2022 | Matt Trollope
More than seven years after last reaching a Grand Slam quarterfinal, Nick Kyrgios is through to the last eight at Wimbledon after a five-set win over Brandon Nakashima.
A relatively subdued Kyrgios, battling shoulder discomfort, eventually wore down the young American 4-6 6-4 7-6(2) 3-6 6-2 on Centre Court to set up a meeting with Christian Garin.
Garin recovered from two-sets-to-love down, and later saved two match points, to beat Kyrgios’ countryman Alex de Minaur.
Kyrgios is appearing in the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time since 2014, back when he completed a famous upset win over then-world No.1 Rafael Nadal in the fourth round.
It is his first Grand Slam quarterfinal run since Australian Open 2015.
That’s how to seal a victory 👏@NickKyrgios has the Centre Court crowd on their feet#Wimbledon | #CentreCourt100 pic.twitter.com/l8VeZmTTvf
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 4, 2022
Kyrgios will take on Garin – a player he has never before faced – for a place in his first ever major semifinal.
“I was really excited to play De Minaur to be honest,” Kyrgios lamented during an on-court interview. “He’s been flying the Aussie flag for so long.
“I came on court when he was two-sets-to-love up, so I was actually expecting to play him.
“(Today) it wasn’t anywhere near my best performance level-wise, but I’m just super happy to get through.
“I fought really hard today and the crowd was amazing – it was special stepping out here once again.”
Nakashima upset last year’s semifinalist Denis Shapovalov earlier in the tournament on his way to debuting in the second week of a major.
He showed few signs of early nerves against Kyrgios, going game-for-game with the powerful Australian on serve.
As Nakashima held for 4-3, a grimacing Kyrgios began stretching out and massaging his right shoulder.
He held for 4-4, but two games later, Nakashima broke serve as Kyrgios lost all range, snatching the first set.
Nakashima held points for a 2-0 lead in the second before going off the boil; double faults contributed to him losing serve in the third game.
Kyrgios received painkillers for his shoulder from the trainer at the changeover, and found a better groove on serve.
“I’ve played a lot of…
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