Australia’s Nick Kyrgios used a barrage of 25 aces to defeat top seed Novak Djokovic 7-6 (11/9), 7-5 in the early hours of yesterday morning and reach the semi-finals of the Mexican Open.
Kyrgios blasted 16 aces in the first set to beat Djokovic in his first match against the world No. 2 and was due to face Sam Querrey of the US in the semi-finals.
Spaniard Rafael Nadal was to face off against Croatia’s Marin Cilic in the other.
Photo: AP
“It’s a big win,” Kyrgios said. “I was a little bit nervous because I’m sure the crowd was rooting for Novak. He’s one of the greatest players of all time, but I’m playing with confidence. My serve is the best part of my game and I had one of my best serving matches tonight.”
World No. 17 Kyrgios also defeated Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal the first time he played against them.
The 21-year-old Australian beat Nadal at Wimbledon in 2014 and Federer in Madrid in 2015.
Djokovic was playing in his first tournament since a shocking loss in the second round of the Australian Open.
Querrey reached the semi-finals for the second year in a row. Last year, he lost to Dominic Thiem, but this time around the American got the win in just 66 minutes a day after taking down Belgian world No. 11 David Goffin.
Querrey ended Thiem’s seven-match winning streak.
“He is a big-serving American, I played him before and I know what to expect,” Kyrgios said.
Earlier on Thursday, Nadal ran his Mexican Open winning streak to 13 matches, beating Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 7-6 (7/2), 6-3.
The tournament winner in 2005 and 2013, Nadal needed almost two hours to finish off Nishioka. The 30-year-old Spanish star overcame a 4-2 deficit in the first set and got out of an 0-2 hole in the second.
“Every game here is special. I did not play my best tennis, but that’s why it has a merit,” Nadal said. “I played great the previous rounds and today I was able to get over a tough situation. I’m happy to be in the semi-finals. That’s great news.”
Cilic advanced when Steve Johnson of the US withdrew because of a right-ankle injury.
“He’s one of the toughest rivals in the world, he has a great serve and is very aggressive,” Nadal said of Cilic. “I will have to play so much better than today if I want to have a shot. It’s a big match. I hope to be prepared for it.”
In the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles, fourth seeds Chuang Chia-jung of Taiwan and Christina McHale of the US fell to a 4-6, 6-4, 10-5 defeat to Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay and Mariana Duque-Marino of Colombia.
In the singles, top seed Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia beat France’s Pauline Parmentier 6-2, 6-3. Lucic-Baroni was next due to face seventh seed Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine, a 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) winner over third seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia.
McHale beat Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig 6-2, 6-2. The fifth seed, in her second straight Acapulco semi-final, was due to play second seed Kristina Mladenovic of France, who beat Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens 6-4, 6-3.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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