Nadal beats Kyrgios to enter Wimbledon 3rd round

Speed Post News Network

Patna : Third seed and World No 2 Rafael Nadal, Spain, edged past talented but highly temperamental Nick Kyrgios, 24, Australia, in their much hyped second round match to enter the third round of Wimbledon Championships at London, UK, on July 4, 2019, late night. Nadal, winner of  18 Grand Slam titles, defeated World No 43 Nick Kyrgios 6-3, 3-6, 7-6, 7-6 to avenge his 2014 Wimbledon fourth round defeat to the Australian. Both the players won 2 break points each in the match besides winning 3 games each in a row.

Nadal, who now leads Kyrgios 4-3 head to head, will face World No 72 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 34, France, in the 3rd round. Tsonga had Wimbledon semi-finals in 2011 and 2012 besides reaching the Australian Open final in 2008. Tsonga had also reached semi-finals of French Open in 2013 and 2015.

Nadal broke Krygios’ service twice in the first set to win the first set easily 6-3. But, Kyrgios rallied back strongly breaking the Spaniard’s service twice to win the second set by the same score. The third and fourth sets went to tiebreaks which Nadal won comfortably. Nadal’s winning percentage both on his first and second serve (82 % & 75%) was higher than that of Kyrgios ( 73% & 70%). Kyrgios committed 27 unforced errors with Nadal  targeting his forehand. Kyrgios, however, fired 29 Aces in the match to 11 by Nadal.

World No 10 Fabio Fognini, 32, Italy, survived scare before beating World No 51 Marton Fucsovics, 27, Hungary, in five-sets 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 2-6, 6-3 to enter the 3rd round. Fucsovics fired 16 Aces in the match to 4 by Fognini. Both the players won 4 break points each in the match. They also won 3 games each in a row in the match. Fognini won 113 service points to 108 by Fucsovics.

World No 7 Kei Nishikori, Japan, defeated World No 55 Cameron Norrie, 23, UK, 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 to enter the 3rd round.