"Tennis is all about momentum" - says Nadal after win over Kyrgios

Rafael Nadal overcame a monstrous start and a measured comeback attempt from Nick Kyrgios with an assured finish on Thursday in the BNP Paribas Open quarter-finals.

With the 7-6(0), 5-7, 6-4 victory, Nadal extends his perfect season to 19-0 and improves his ATP Head2Head record against Kyrgios to 6-3, including wins in their past three meetings. A three-time champion in Indian Wells, Nadal returns to the semi-finals for the 11th time in the desert. Speaking after the match, he said:

“I think for moments I played well. It’s difficult to play against him, always tough because he changes the dynamic of the point very quick and his serve is huge, especially the first serve. I think I played a good third set. Returning better. I was solid with the serve; I just suffered in one game with my serve. Nick is one of these kind of players that you're going to have problems when he’s motivated."

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The match practically changed in a few rallies and Nadal explained how it is all momentum:

"Tennis is all about the momentum sometimes. After the way that I finished the second with a couple of mistakes, I knew the beginning of the third will be so important and probably critical for me. So I needed to save the first couple of games, and then the match came back to normal and anything can happen."