Australian teenager Nick Kyrgios continued his impressive Wimbledon form, causing a huge upset as he knocked out world number one Rafael Nadal to grab a last-8 slot.
The 19-year-old wildcard blasted down 37 aces and hit 70 winners to beat the 14-time Grand Slam champion 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 on his Centre Court debut.
“You got to believe you can win the match from the start and I did,” said Kyrgios after his win over Nadal.
The player ranked 144, will next play Milos Raonic, who beat Japan’s Kei Nishikori in four sets to become the first Canadian man to ever reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
And back to the celebrated win of Day 10, Kyrgios is the first man outside the top 100 to beat a world number one since 1992 and the first teenager to beat a world number one since his current victim beat Roger Federer at the 2005 Roland Garros aged 19 years and two days.
Nadal has now failed to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon since 2011. Unfortunately, as has become a norm in the Spaniard’s 2014 campaign at the All England Club, he lost the first set but unlike his previous three matches failed recover against a rampant Kyrgios.
Kyrgios, just last week saved nine match points to beat Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the second round.
“It was a bit of a zone out there and didn’t really notice the crowd,” the Aussie told BBC Sport. “I was struggling a little on return but I worked my way into it and I served really well throughout, so am very happy.”
