Nadal brilliant in victory against an inspired Kyrgios

Rafael Nadal and Nick Kyrgios are no strangers to each other. They have had spectacular matches so everybody got very excited when it became clear they would play in Melbourne. Even Kyrgios couldn't hide his excitement when he spoke to the media after his match against Khachanov.

The first was won by Nadal mostly because Kyrgios was a bit nervous and simply could not match Nadal who was very focused. Nadal knew a good start way key so he didn't disappoint winning the 1st set 6-3.

The 2nd set was a bit different. Kyrgios was noticeably patient and mature despite having issues with some of the officiating and crowd. It was nothing new for the temperamental Aussie but he didn't allow that to shift his focus from the match. He got an opportunity when Nadal played a very bad game and he took. He composed and served his way to a 2nd set victory 6-3.

In the 3rd set, we saw the best tennis yet. Both of them raised their level of play particularly Kyrgios because he simply had to. Nadal was determined and attacked Kyrgios relentlessly with both his forehand and backhand. The Aussie managed to countre Nadal albeit the Spaniard came very close to breaking Kyrgios several times. We ended up in the tiebreak which was quite dramatic.

Nadal jumped out to an early lead in it but Nick managed to fight back. Nonetheless, the Spaniard had a set point on his own serve at 6-5 but he committed a double fault. Very unlike Nadal but it didn't disturb him much because he won the tiebreak 8-6 after Kyrgios slammed a forehand into the net. A very fitting unforced error for the Aussie who had 15 in the whole set.

The 4th set started out excellently for Nadal. He managed to break Nick's serve for only the second time in the match to take a 3-1 lead. Nick struggled more and more as the match went on presumably due to tiredness caused by a 4-hour match in the previous round. Kyrgios tried being more aggressive but he only made more mistakes. Nadal was very focused as he didn't want to botch this opportunity.

No matter how much he tried though, he couldn't break his opponent once more as Kyrgios is one of the hardest players to break. Even so, Nadal continued to play well and counter anything the Aussie tried. When Nadal stepped up to wrap the match up it was 5-4 for him and he was serving. It didn't go as expected for Nadal who faced a very energetic Kyrgios who managed to fight his way to 2 breakpoints.

He failed to convert the 1st one but he did the 2nd one with a brilliant forehand attack which Nadal bolted out. It wasn't over yet as the scoreboard showed 5-5. They both won their service games and we were in another tiebreak. In it, we saw spectacular tennis by both of them but it was the Spaniard who came out on top 7-4.

A brilliant display from Rafa who proved to be in great form and a valiant effort from Kyrgios. If he continues the maturity he displayed today he will be a top 10 player by the end of the year.

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