By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Rafael Nadal’s hopes in clinching his 20th Grand Slam is still alive.
After almost two hours of intense power rallies, the Spanish tennis legend got the better of the flashy Nick Kyrgios in four sets, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6, 7-6.
Kyrgios put Nadal through the grinder in the last two sets, forcing him to two tiebreakers which Nadal won with a slim margin, 8-6, 7-4.
Nadal had the early grip of the game and dictated the tempo of the match as he forced Kyrgios to the baseline and contend with his top-spin game, not allowing the Australian to attack the net easily.
Kyrgios got back in the second set after switching up his game plan to put Nadal to work, setting up weird angles of drop shots that put Nadal in skates.
Eventually, it was the Spanish star who sealed the game in cardiac fashion after taking the two sets in thrilling tie-breakers.
Nadal’s win will set up a clash between him and current World number five Dominic Thiem in the quarterfinals.
