Nick Kyrgios impressively rallied past Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Halle lawn tournament on Wednesday to assert his status as a Wimbledon threat, but only after arguing with the chair umpire over sweating. Kyrgios defeated world number six Tsitsipas 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 to reach a second consecutive quarterfinal after also making the last eight in Stuttgart five days ago. The 27-year-old shattered his racket after losing the opener after sparing three set points. He then got into a minor altercation with the chair umpire in the third game of the second set, landing him with a time-wasting warning.
“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 such a thing as sweat in the 30 degree heat that gets on your hands.
“I had to wipe my hands and he gave me a warning.”
Kyrgios sat down on his bench right away in the middle of the game and struck out the point with the chair before returning to the field to 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 thought was a frivolous warning “an unnecessary part of the game. It’s not necessary in a stadium full of people”.
“Later I hit two aces to prove my point.”
Kyrgios, who has played just five events outside of Australia this season, said he is proud to win on his own terms – without a coach and only playing when it suits him – while maintaining his position at the current 65th.
“There should definitely be more grass events, I’ve been talking about them for ages,” he said after beating the second-placed Greek while saving seven of eight break points in just over two hours.
“If we had six grass court tournaments in Australia, I would never leave the country.”
Kyrgios will face Pablo Carreno Busta in a quarter-final on Friday after Spain’s sixth seed Sebastian Korda defeated 6-4, 0-6, 6-3.
The Australian said his lack of a huge tennis work ethic actually aids 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’ll be pretty happy.
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“I have a lot of people at home that I play for and they all want me to keep winning these kinds of games. It just proves that you can do it your way.”
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
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