Nick Kyrgios shrugged off a shoulder injury to beat Brandon Nakashima in five sets and secure a place in the Wimbledon quarter-finals on Monday, staying on track for a blockbuster clash against Rafael Nadal. The maverick Australian showed his best behavior just two days after his stormy third round win against Stefanos Tsitsipas, winning 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/2), 3-6, 6-2 . Kyrgios kept his cool on a sun-filled Center Court in a three-hour, 11-minute game to book a last-eight draw against Chile’s Cristian Garin.
The 27-year-old recovered from a slow start and his shoulder problems to free up his groundstrokes as the game progressed.
Kyrgios, who received regular physio treatments, hammered 79 winners, including 35 aces, and broke 20-year-old Nakashima’s serve three times to improve to 11-2 on grass in 2022.
The last time the 40th-ranked player made it to the last eight at a major was at the Australian Open in 2015, a year after he reached the same podium in his All England Club debut.
“I’ve been playing a lot of tennis in the past month and a half,” he said. “I’m proud of the way I kept the ship stable after it came out in the fourth set.
“My record of five sets is pretty good. I was thinking about that. I’ve played a lot of five-set matches here.”
Kyrgios then faces Garin, who fights back from two sets behind and saved two match points to defeat Australia’s 19th seed Alex de Minaur.
The unseeded Chilean took the third set via a tie-break and went on to win 2-6, 5-7, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4, 7-6 (10/6) in a grueling game of four hours and 34 minutes.
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“I tried to be aggressive, went to the net and also tried to be aggressive with my serve. I think that was the key,” he said.
Elsewhere, 11th seed Taylor Fritz crossed out past Australian qualifier Jason Kubler 6-3, 6-1, 6-4.
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