Wimbledon, England (Associated Press) – Much calmer and calmer than in his previous match, Nick Kyrgios overcame his annoying right shoulder to fire 35 aces and beat Brandon Nakashima 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2 ), 3-6, 6-2 at Wimbledon on Monday to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final for the first time in 7-1/2 years.
Unseeded Kyrgios improved to 6-0 during his five-man career at the All England Club and claimed his eleventh victory on grass this season.
“I need a glass of wine, sure, tonight. Sure,” Kyrgios told the crowd during his court interview, after replacing his rule-compliant white hat and shoes with red versions.
Playing in front of almost an entire house in Center Court, the 27-year-old Australian only occasionally showed off his unusual range of trick shots — swinging between legs here, sending under the armpits there — or the temper that earned him $10,000 in fines for spitting in An annoying spectator direction at the end of his first-round match and $4,000 for an audible gossip during his stormy win over No. 4 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third round.
Against Nakashima, an unranked 20-year-old from California, Kyrgios was repeatedly visited during the change by a coach who massaged and manipulated his shoulder. There was a stretch where Kyrgios’ high-speed services dropped from over 135 mph to nearly 110 mph, but he eventually seemed to get past that and back to produce non-returnables over and over again.
After Nakashima leveled things out by taking the fourth set with a break, then taking a 1-0 lead in the fifth set, Kyrgios rushed to the finish. He won five games in a row, before spending it off the field and closing in this way from the Love-30: a forehand pass across the field; Hangs in an 11-kick exchange until Nakashima misses a backhand; 134 mph service winner; The winner is a forehand shot.
“I’ve played a lot of tennis in the last month and a half. I’m proud of the way you have mounted the ship,” Kyrgios said. “Honestly that’s what I was thinking: I didn’t lose a five-set match here. … I was like, ‘I’ve been here before. I’ve done that before. “
This will be Kyrgios’ third appearance in a major quarter-final. The others came as a teenager at Wimbledon in 2014 – when he surprised then – no. 1 Rafael Nadal all the way – and at the 2015 Australian Open.
“I came out of here against one of the greatest players of all time and beat Nadal,” Kyrgios said. “So these are all things I have in the back of my mind.”
Kyrgios will next face Cristian Garin, the 26-year-old from Chile, who made his first two-week comeback in two sets, saved two match points and turned things around to defeat 19th seed Alex de Minaur 2-6, 5-7, 7-6 (7-3) , 6-4, 7-6 (10-6) after more than 4 1/2 hours. Garin, seeded 43, reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time in his 15th main appearance.
Taylor Fritz’s other quarter-final match will be 11th semi-final against 22-times champion Rafael Nadal.
Things went smoothly with Nadal against Bottic van de Zandschulp, seeded 21st, until it was time to close out their fourth-round match at Wimbledon.
Serving for a 5-3 win in the third set, Nadal, seeded No. 2, was broken for the second time in the match and then failed to convert three consecutive match points when he advanced 6-3 in the tiebreak that followed.
That was the end of the Dutchman’s resistance, although Nadal turned his fourth match point to win 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (8-6) on center court.
The Spaniard is playing his first grasscourt tournament since 2019, when he lost to Roger Federer in the Wimbledon semi-finals. He is looking for his third Wimbledon title and has a chance at the year-round Grand Slams after winning the Australian Open and the French Open to take his career tally to a record 22.
He next faces 11th seed Taylor Fritz, the only American man left in the draw.
After losing three of his countrymen in the fourth round, Fritz ended that streak by defeating Australian qualifier Jason Kobler, 6-3, 6-1, 6-4, to reach the Grand Slam quarter-finals for the first time.
“I’m glad I was able to take the win on the Fourth of July, for being an American,” Fritz said in a court interview.
This is Fritz’s eighth straight win on grass after winning a friendly tournament in Eastbourne.
Simona Halep, the only remaining Grand Slam title holder in the women’s category, extended her Wimbledon winning streak to 11 matches by defeating fourth seed Paula Padusa 6-1 6-2.
The 16th seed Halep, who recently teamed up with former Serena Williams coach Patrick Muratoglu, only made nine fouls against Padusa, saved her only break point and only needed an hour to move on.
Halep won the French Open in 2018 and Wimbledon in 2019. She didn’t return to compete at the All England Club until last week, though, because the tournament was canceled in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, and she missed a year ago due to the coronavirus outbreak. from an infected man.
With Padusa out, the only woman remaining ranked higher than Halep is third seed Anas Jaber. The combined nine-seeded women’s or men’s quarter-finalist is the lowest total at Wimbledon since 2000.
20th seed Halep will face Amanda Anisimova, the 20-year-old American who beat Harmony Tan of France 6-2 6-3. It’s Anisimova’s first Grand Slam quarter-final since the semi-finals at the 2019 French Open, when she also beat Tan along the way. Anisimova lost in the first round of Wimbledon last year.
Anisimova ousted last week’s French Open runner-up Coco Gauff. Tan eliminated major champion Serena Williams 23 times in the first round.
Their other quarter-final match on their side of the court will be 17th seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan against Australian Agla Tomljanovic. Rybakina reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the first time with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Petra Martic, while Tomljanovic is there for the second year in a row after beating Alize Cornet 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Cornet ended top seed Iga Swiatek’s 37-game winning streak on Saturday.
“I didn’t think I could really do that,” said Tomljanovic, who lost to eventual champion Ash Party in the quarter-finals last year. “After some difficult moments this year, I thought: Will I ever get a chance again? I can’t believe after a year, I’m in the same situation.”
