Nadal passes Kyrgios test

World number one Rafa Nadal lost his first set of the tournament but rode out a spirited challenge from Nick Kyrgios to move into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for the 12th time with a 6-3 3-6 7-6 (6) 7-6(4) victory on Monday.

Australian Kyrgios was a match for the 19-times Grand Slam champion in the second and for most of the third set but the muscle-bound Spaniard always looked like the most likely winner once he got his nose back in front.

Kyrgios broke back when Nadal was serving for the match in the fourth set to reignite the contest and bring the partisan Rod Laver Arena crowd back into the equation.The top seed gritted his teeth and went again in the tiebreak, however, moving through to a last eight meeting with Austrian Dominic Thiem when Kyrgios netted a forehand after three hours and38 minutes.

Meanwhile, former champion Stan Wawrinka emerged from a mid-match loss of confidence to battle past Russian fourth seed Daniil Medvedev to reach the quarter-finals with a 6-2 2-6 4-6 7-6(2) 6-2 victory.Medvedev, 23, arrived in Melbourne after a 2019 season featuring four titles and a Tour-leading 59 match wins and came into Monday’s contest against Wawrinka having won both career meetings at Grand Slams in four sets.

But the Russian failed to find a way past the battling 2014 Australian Open champion, ending up the highest seed to fall in the men’s draw so far.Wawrinka, who won the last of his three Grand Slam titles at the 2016 U.S. Open, hit a staggering 71 winners and sealed the contest after three hours and 25 minutes.

“This was another amazing match, really tough to play against Daniil, I lost to him in U.S. Open but today came back strongly on the fourth and fifth sets,” he said.Earlier, seventh seed Alexander Zverev of Germany strolled past childhood friend Andrey Rublev 6-4 6-4 6-4 on Monday to end the Russian’s 15-match winning streak and book his maidenquarter-final spot.

Rublev arrived in Melbourne having won titles in Doha and Adelaide at the start of the season while he also won all four singles matches he contested at the season-ending Davis Cup Finals in November.In stark contrast, Zverev came to the year’s first Grand Slam lacking confidence after losing all three of his singles matches at the inaugural ATP Cup to Australia’s Alex de Minaur, Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas and Canada’s Denis Shapovalov.

But the German has showed no signs of any baggage at Melbourne Park, cruising through his four matches at the tournament without dropping a set.“It feels amazing,” said Zverev. “I played some great matches against some great opponents. This is Andrey’s first loss of the season.

He’s won two tournaments already, made to the fourth round here, playing unbelievable tennis.”The German put in a clinical performance, breaking his opponent’s serve once in each set while not facing a single breakpoint of his own.

Zverev won 49 of his 54 first-service points, struck 11 aces and hit his 34th winner to complete the win in an hour and 37 minutes.He had an extended chat with Rublev at the net after giving a warm hug to the Russian.“We have been close friends since we were 10-years-old,” Zverev said. “Just reminded him how farwe got together.”