Nick Kyrgios storms into Wimbledon quarter-finals after five-set battle with Brandon Nakashima

Subdued for so long, Nick Kyrgios finally found his spark to extend his rollercoaster ride at Wimbledon and lock up a place in the quarter-finals for just the second time. Kyrgios inspired a feverish ride two nights earlier, but this afternoon proved more of an attritional affair, lacking the spice of his rivalry with Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The curiosity and excitement that swirled around this fourth-round match was instead centred over whether Kyrgios would produce the sublime, ludicrous or, preferably, a mixture of both. Already hit with fines totalling £11,560 this fortnight for spitting and swearing, the Australian maverick has proved a divisive figure. Part of the ‘Fantastic Four’ Australians, alongside Alex de Minaur, Jason Kubler and Ajla Tomljanovic, to reach the last 16 for the first time since 1999, the pantomime villain of SW19 lacked a dance partner to mirror Saturday’s theatrics.

Instead he found the unassuming Nakashima, dangerously equipped with intense focus and a polished game after quietly bursting onto the scene in recent weeks. The 20-year-old has soared to a career-high 56 in the world, while adding the scalp of last year’s Wimbledon semi-finalist Denis Shapovalov last week. Nakashima has also given the Stars and Stripes fresh hope in men’s tennis with his efforts making him the youngest American to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon since Andy Roddick in 2003.

No longer a “circus”, as aptly described by Tsitsipas after their turbulent third round match, a subdued Kyrgios struggled for that bolt of inspiration, even discarding several challenges to break up the methodical nature of the match.

Neat and tidy, Nakashima refused to nibble at any bait, with his game resembling a patient Test match bowler, routinely throwing down line and length and waiting for his opponent to crack.

Kyrgios, labelled “evil” and “a bully” by Tsitsipas just 48 hours earlier, looked likely to do so, barely stretching for a ball in the opener before crushing a forehand winner and sending down two venomous serves to level matters. His stony persona remained until agitating for his right shoulder in the seventh game. The issue endured into his service game with the precious seconds between points used to self-massage the area. But Nakashima ruthlessly exposed his limitation, whipping a lovely forehand to the problematic side to secure the break and capture the first set.

Kyrgios, despite grimacing, refused to let up the ferocious edge to his service game, which formed the foundation of his second-set charge. The world No 40’s infuriating antics sometimes obscure the formidable game beneath, with Nakashima routinely dismantled in quick time with serves reaching as high as 137mph. And with precious little opportunities to return, the pressure grew leading to Nakashima finally cracking. He reviewed a first serve correctly called out and then double faulted, swinging wildly to balloon the ball into the crowd and hand Kyrgios the break and eventually the set.

The shoulder issue persisted though, with a medical timeout called at 3-2 in the third set, limiting the Australian to shorter rallies. But the 27-year-old retained a seemingly impenetrable service game throughout the set, hammering nine aces and winning 91 percent of his first-serve points to force a tie-break. Kyrgios stayed loyal to his trusted weapon before a pair of timely returns clinched a breathless 7-2 tie-break to seize control of the match.

While Kyrgios, the Grand Slam contender, has emerged over the last eight days, his ugly side can reappaear at pivotal stages. After two subdued hours, Kyrgios’ petulant side belatedly arrived in the fourth. Simply begging Nakashima to close out the set at 5-3 with serves barely reaching 70mph, Kyrgios eventually gift-wrapped it while carelessly smashing a ball long.

A fifth-set shoot-out followed, with Kyrgios suddenly reinvigorated and overpowering Nakashima with a sudden change of pace. After grinding the match out over three hours, 11 minutes, relief consumed Kyrgios, who revealed his immense effort required “a glass of wine” later. The pantomime resumes on Wednesday, with Cristian Garin up next after a marathon victory of his own against Alex De Minaur. You can be sure that with Kyrgios, it will not be dull.

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