Rafael Nadal narrowly avoided suffering his first loss of the season after outlasting Nick Kyrgios in a marathon quarter-final encounter at the BNP Paribas Open.
The 21-time Grand Slam champion was forced to save a series of break points early in the decider before going on to win the match 7-6(0), 5-7, 6-4, after almost three hours of play. Extending his perfect start to the season to 19-0. Against Kyrgios, Nadal won 77% of his first serves and hit a total of 10 aces. He improves his head-to-head record against the Australian to 6-3.
“It was a good tennis match, I think,” said Nadal. “I’m happy to win, of course. Being in the semifinals is great news for me again. I’m happy about that third set because it wasn’t easy after the end of the second. It was terrible for me.”
“But I held it emotionally, and mentally, I think I was ready to keep fighting. So (I’m) happy with the victory and of course happy with the level of the set.”
The rollercoaster encounter saw continuous changes of momentum. After coming through a tough opener where he had to claw his way back from a 1-3 deficit, Nadal was pushed to his limits by his rival. In the second set 11 games in a row were played without a break point opportunity occurring. However, as the Spaniard served at 5-6, Kyrgios seized the moment and was able to level the match. Then in the decider Nadal managed to break midway through which gave him enough of a margin to seal the win.
As it usually is with matches involving Kyrgios there was also plenty of drama involved. During the third set a fan called out which bemused the Australian who shouted back at the fan, who was sitting near to actor Ben Stiller. He had earlier complained about the noise of the crowd.
Kyrgios: ‘Are you good at tennis?’
Heckler: ‘No.’
Kyrgios: ‘Exactly, so don’t tell me how to play. [Pointing at Stiller and his wife who were sitting nearby] Do I tell him how to act? No.’
Kyrgios also received a point penalty at the end of the first set for swearing at a member of the crowd. He also entered into an argument with the umpire over the crowd behavior and was heard saying ‘’Look at the f***ing score … it’s your job to control [heckling fans], no one else’s.’
“I think Nick had a great attitude during the whole match in terms of fighting spirit, and of course he has his personality, his character. Sometimes he does things that from my personal understanding, I don’t like, but I respect (that) because of different characters,” Nadal said of his opponent.
“Different kinds of points of view, and different kinds of education sometimes. I’m not saying that in a negative way at all, just different kinds of points of view.” He added.
The drama continued after the last point was played. Frustrated with his defeat, Kyrgios slammed his racket on to the ground which rebounded and ended up almost hitting a ball kid who had to duck away.
“I just want to apologise to that ball kid at the end of the match,” Kyrgios later wrote on Instagram. “It was a complete accident and was frustrated at the end of the match.
“My racquet took a crazy bounce and was never my intention. If anyone knows who that ball kid is, send me a message and I will send a racket to him. I’m glad he’s OK!”
Since the incident, Kyrgios has managed to track down the ball kid and personally apologize.
Awaiting Nadal in the semi-finals will be rising star Carlos Alcaraz who continues to blossom on the Tour. The 18-year-old knocked out defending champion Cameron Norrie 6-4, 6-3, to become the second-youngest male semi-finalist in Indian Wells history. The youngest was Andre Agassi who achieved the milestone at the age of 17 in 1988.
“I think he’s unstoppable in terms of his career. He has all the ingredients. He has the passion. He’s humble enough to work hard,” Nadal said of Alcaraz.
“He reminds me of a lot of things from when I was a 17- or 18-years-old kid. I think he has passion. He has the talent and the physical component that it’s great.”
Nadal is just two victories away from winning his fourth Indian Wells title and first since 2013.
