Jannik Sinner has secured his place in the quarter-finals of the Miami Open by defeating an irate Nick Kyrgios who clashed with the umpire on numerous occasions.
The Italian ninth seed was focused on the match throughout his 7-6(5), 6-3, win over his Australian rival in what was their first Tour meeting. Playing in front of a highly animated crowd the difference in the on-court personalities between both players was substantial. Sinner appeared calm and barely let out a word during the fourth round clash. A stark contrast to Kyrgios who received multiple penalties for his outbursts.
“I just tried to stay in the present moment to be honest because I know he can raise his level immediately, especially when he breaks,” Sinner said during an interview with Amazon Prime.
“I tried to somehow stay calm and I think I did a great job today.’
“Today I raised my level a little bit and tried to stay more aggressive. I also served well, especially during the important moments. I think this can give me a lot of confidence for the next round.”
Whilst Sinner was the winner, the main talking point of the match involved Kyrgios who was the oldest player to reach the last 16 in Miami this year. Early on during the first set he voiced his displeasure with the Grandstand court after playing his previous matches on the Premier stadium court.
Kyrgios’ first annoyance was with the speed of the court which he says was much slower than the main court where he scored back-to-back wins over Andrey Rublev and Fabio Fognini. Then at 4-4 a point was interrupted after the walkie talkie of umpire Carlos Bernardes went off.
“Unbelievable!” Kyrgios shouted as he sat down on his chair at the end of the game. “Miami – one of the biggest tournaments – and you guys can’t do your jobs. It’s embarrassing!”
The crowd also frustrated the 26-year-old who also complained during another stage of the opening set ‘the court’s the worst, the crowd the worst, everyone is the worst.’
However, it was during the tiebreaker where the match reached boiling point. Trailing 3-5 Kyrgios was slammed with a point penalty from Bernardes for unsportsmanlike conduct. Handing Sinner a trio of set points. Kyrgios then produced a double fault to relinquish the second set and was hit with a game penalty for further violation of the rules. Resulting in the Italian starting the second set with a break advantage which he managed to maintain until the match ended.
Besides the controversial behaviour, there was also a bizarre moment when a member of the crowd ran on court to pose for a selfie with Kyrgios before security escorted her off.
Refusing to shake Bernardes hand at the end of the match, Kyrgios continued to fume as he felt he was mistreated by the match official. When he walked off, he was heard saying to those working for Amazon Prime ‘why don’t you write about or talk about poor umpiring for once?’
In the wake of these incidents, Kyrgios is set to be fined by organizers for the second tournament in a row. Earlier this month he was docked $25,000 for nearly hitting a ball boy after smashing his racket and yelling an audible obscenity during his clash with Rafael Nadal in Indian Wells.
