Tennis: No sweat as impressive Kyrgios sees off Tsitsipas

HALLE WESTFALEN, Germany -- Nick Kyrgios impressively rallied past Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Halle grass court tournament on Wednesday to hammer home his status as a Wimbledon threat but only after a spat with the chair umpire over sweating.

Kyrgios defeated world number six Tsitsipas 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 to reach a second successive quarter-final after also making the last eight in Stuttgart five days ago.

The 27-year-old smashed his racquet after losing the opener after saving three set points.

He then got into a minor spat with the chair umpire in the third game of the second set, landing himself with a warning for time-wasting.

"He said I was playing too slow - statistically I'm one of the fastest," Kyrgios said. 

"I had to walk to the sidelines to get my towel, there is this thing called sweat in 30 Celsius heat that runs down onto your hands.

"I needed to wipe my hands and he gave me a warning."

Kyrgios immediately sat down mid-game on his bench and thrashed the point out with the chair before returning to the court amid cheers.

"The support I get from crowds around the world is amazing. They want me to go out and put on a show," he said.

Kyrgios called what he judged a frivolous warning "an unnecessary part of the game. It's not needed in a stadium full of people".

"I later hit two aces just to prove my point."

Kyrgios, who has played only five events this season outside of Australia, said he is proud of winning on his own terms - without a coach and playing only when it suits him - while still keeping his ranking at its current 65th.

"There needs to be more grass events for sure, I've been talking about it for ages," he said after defeating the second seeded Greek while saving seven of eight break points in just over two hours.

"If we had six grass court tournaments in Australia, I'd never leave the country."

Kyrgios will play a Friday quarter-final against Pablo Carreno Busta after the Spanish sixth seed beat Sebastian Korda 6-4, 0-6, 6-3.

The Australian said that his lack of a massive tennis work ethic is actually a help to his game.

"If I can beat some of the best players in the world and play at this level with as few events as I play, I'm pretty happy.

"I've got a lot of people whom I'm playing for back home and they all want me to keep winning matches like this. This just proves that you can do it all your own way."

Agence France-Presse

Greek teen upsets Djokovic in Rogers Cup

TORONTO — Greek teen Stefanos Tsitsipas upset Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3 on Thursday in the Rogers Cup (Friday Manila time).

The 19-year-old Tsitsipas broke the ninth-seeded Serb's serve early in the third set and held serve from there to reach his first career ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarterfinal.

"I feel very proud for me, myself, and my country. I'm putting Greece more deep into the map of tennis," Tsitsipas said. "I'm pretty sure I'm making my family proud, all of those people that are watching, my coach, my father. It was a very emotional win. I've never felt so many emotions after a victory."

Djokovic, a four-time Rogers Cup champion, faded late on a warm, breezy afternoon at Aviva Centre on the York University campus.

"Losing in this kind of tournament, it's not something I don't care about," Djokovic said. "It really frustrates me. But I have to accept it, deal with it, and move on. ... He just played better in the decisive moments. I had my chances to come back in the third set when I dropped my serve at 15-40. An easy forehand. I missed it, but that's sport. You have to deal with these kind of situations."


Tsitsipas set up match point with a scorching cross-court winner before completing the victory in 2 hours, 17 minutes.

"I knew he had some issues in some particular shots in his game, I would say. So I was waiting and I grabbed him like a bulldog and stuck there and executed, I executed my plan," Tsitsipas said. "I knew that at some point he's going to break, and I just patiently waited for this moment and it happened."

Top-ranked Rafael Nadal beat Swizterland's Stan Wawrinka 7-5, 7-6 (4) in a night match delayed by rain late in the first set. Nadal, playing his first event since losing to Djokovic in the Wimbledon semifinals, will face sixth-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia.

"Very positive victory for me against a very tough opponent," Nadal. "That's what I needed, a match like this to be a little more confident. Just happy to be in the quarterfinals."

Cilic beat 11th-seeded Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 6-3, 6-2.

Tsitsipas will face second-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany, the defending champion coming off a tournament victory last week in Washington that included a semifinal win over Tsitsipas. The 21-year-old Zverev beat Russia's Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-2 for seventh straight match win and tour-high 43rd of the year.

"I feel physically pretty well. I feel like I'm playing well," Zverev said. "I get into a rhythm of playing matches one after another, and right now, I'm in that rhythm."

Fourth-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa and fifth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria set up another quarterfinal. Anderson topped qualifier Ilya Ivashka of Belarus 7-5, 6-3, and Dimitrov beat American Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (1), 3-6, 7-6 (4).

In the other quarterfinal, Karen Khachanov of Russia will play Robin Haase of the Netherlands. Khachanov beat eighth-seeded John Isner of the United States 7-6 (5), 7-6 (1), and Haase topped Canadian Denis Shapovalov 7-5, 6-2.

source: philstar.com