Rafael Nadal defeated Nick Kyrgios 7-6 (0), 5-7, 6-4 to reach the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open in a match featuring obscenities, underhand serves, a point penalty and smashed rackets.
Nadal improved to 19-0 this year, the third-best start to a season since 1990.
“Happy about that third set because it wasn’t easy after the end of the second. It was terrible for me,” he said on Thursday.
“But I hold it emotionally, and mentally, I think I was ready to keep fighting.”
So was Kyrgios.
After the post-match handshake, Kyrgios walked to his seat and smashed his racket on the court. It bounced up and away, nearly striking a ball boy standing at the back of the court. Kyrgios walked off to a mix of boos and cheers.
“It landed a meter from my foot and skidded and nearly hit him,” Kyrgios said.
“I’m human. Things happen like that. Obviously it was a very misfortunate bounce. I think if I did that a million times over it wouldn’t have gone that way.”
Nadal was on his side of the court and said he didn’t see Kyrgios toss his racket after the match.
“I think Nick had a great attitude during the whole match in terms of fighting spirit, and of course he has his personality, his character,” Nadal said.
“Sometimes he does things that I don’t like, but I respect because of different character, different kind of points of view, and different kind of education.”
Trailing 0-6 in the first-set tiebreaker, Kyrgios was serving when the chair umpire assessed him a point penalty for an audible obscenity to a fan, giving Nadal the set. Kyrgios dropped the balls he was holding and calmly walked to his seat.
