AO - Night 8 - Nadal v Kyrgios

The last Australian standing in the men’s singles at the 2020 AO was Nick Kyrgios, and he faced top seed Rafa Nadal on Night Eight on RLA in a round of sixteen match.

Nadal was taken to deuce in the first game of the match, but thereafter he found little difficulty in holding serve in the opening set.

Kyrgios likewise, except in the fourth game, where he surrendered a 40-15 lead to be broken with the second of two break chances.

Nadal served out the set to love and was ahead 6-3.

Kyrgios was in strife in the opening game of set two. Down 40-15 he managed to save the two break points and one other. He wasted two game points before finally holding on.

At 2-1, Kyrgios shocked the Spaniard by converting a break point out of nowhere and leading 3-1.

Three out of the next four games went to love, and Kyrgios served for the set at 5-3.

The Australian levelled when taking the set 6-3.

For seven games of set three, only a total of six points were scored against serve. Then Kyrgios had to stave off a break point to reach 4-4, and Nadal visited deuce twice en route to 5-4.

Kyrgios also survived a couple of deuces before holding and ensuring a tie break.

Kyrgios lost his first point on serve, and after that points remained on serve until Nadal led 5-3 with another delivery in hand. Kyrgios won the point and levelled at 5-5 with the first of his next two serves.

An extraordinary two double faults, one each, followed, and eventually Nadal led 7-6.

Kyrgios had two serves to come, but Nadal won the point on the first of these, and with it the set 7-6(6).

In set four Kyrgios contributed a terrible service game early and was broken to trail 1-2. 

No other breaks occurred in the first nine games - in fact no break points arose. Nadal won 16 of 18 points on his serve in that period, so at 5-4 when serving for the match, things looked pretty good for the top seed.

Kyrgios wasn’t going away, and broke the Spaniard, converting the second of two break chances.

5-5 became a tie break, although Kyrgios did need to save two break points in arriving there.

After exchanging loss of points on each other’s serve, things moved with serve until 3-4 on the Kyrgios serve. The Australian inexplicably tried a drop shot which failed dismally and it gave Nadal the break he needed. 

At 5-4 with two serves to come, the top seed won both points and the match 6-3 3-6 7-6(6) 7-6(4)

Nadal played a brilliant match, attacking ground strokes hitting the mark most of the time, yet he barely won on the scoreboard, proof of the excellent fight and great tennis displayed by Kyrgios. Just a few poor choices of shot at key moments were costly for the Australian, but his disappointment should be used to fuel a motivation for greater things this year - he would have beaten anyone else this night.