Nick Kyrgios fought back to knock out Greek fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and reach the Wimbledon fourth round in a dramatic and fiery four-set encounter in which both players were given warnings by the umpire.
In a remarkable, incident-packed match, Kyrgios called for Tsitsipas to be defaulted after the 23-year-old hit a ball into the crowd and narrowly missed a spectator when he lost the second set.
The Australian had already received a warning for an obscenity by then, while Tsitsipas was given a point penalty for a second code violation as he responded to an underarm serve by hitting the ball away in frustration.
But it was 2014 quarter-finalist Kyrgios who eventually came through in an enthralling final tie-break with his second match point to win 6-7 (2-7) 6-4 6-3 7-6 (9-7) in front of a captivated crowd under the Court One roof.
He will play American Brandon Nakashima next, after the 20-year-old world number 56 beat Colombian Daniel Galan 6-4 6-4 6-1.
“Honestly, it was a hell of an atmosphere, an amazing match. I felt like the favourite coming in, I beat [Tsitsipas] a couple of weeks ago,” Kyrgios said in his on-court interview.
“He’s a hell of a player, he knows how to beat me, he’s beaten me once. I’m so happy to be through. He was getting frustrated at times. It is a frustrating sport.
“I have ultimate respect for him, whatever happens on the court I love him and I’m close with his brother. It’s amazing, everywhere I go I seem to have full stadiums. The media loves to say I’m bad for the sport but clearly I’m not.”
