Nick Kyrgios overcame an intense match against 3rd seed Ivo Karlovic to reach the an ATP semi-final for the second time in his career. The 20-year-old claimed the match 7-6(4), 7-6(2) at the Malaysian Open.
Throughout the match neither player was broken as both sets went into a tiebreaker. As the first set drew to a close with a tie-break approaching, Kyrgios was about to pounce. The consistent serving of the third seed faltered during the early stages of the tie-break as Kyrgios broke two consecutive times to open up a 4-1 lead. Despite dropping one of his service points, the Australian closed out the opening set with his first set point.
Despite taking the first set, Kyrgios still experienced difficulty against Karlovic. The 7th seed had to save two break points in the fifth game of the second set to keep proceedings on serve. This task was aided with his impressive first service points won record, which was 92% (24/26). Similar to the first set another tie-break occurred with an almost identical outcome. Kyrgios grabbed the early break followed by another one a couple points later to have four match points. He only required one as he booked his place in the last four.
Facing a player who is renowned for their outstanding service capability, Kyrgios saw 13 aces fly past him. In August Karlovic produced his 10,000th career ace. Throughout the match, which lasted an hour and twenty-five minutes, Kyrgios won 85% of his first service points and 54% of his second.
This is the second time in 2015 that Kyrgios has beaten Karlovic. The first was in the second round of the Australian Open where he won the match in four sets.
In the last four Kyrgios will play either Feliciano López or Vasek Pospisil.
