Page 19 - ARUBA TODAY

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SPORTS Friday 24 January 2020
Kyrgios barks, mocks his way

to Australian Open's 3rd round

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) Never too early to begin a lead in the first place.
— Love him or hate him pondering a meeting with There also were the con-
-- and make no mistake, a quarterfinal berth at secutive double-faults that
there are plenty in each stake during Week 2 in Mel- allowed Simon to get to
camp -- Nick Kyrgios never bourne, with the popular 4-all with his first break of
allows for a dull moment Nadal facing the home- the match.
when he's on a tennis court, backed Kyrgios. That was part of a stretch
whether it's shot selection, For that to materialize, Kyr- in which Kyrgios veered off
showmanship, momentum gios first needs to beat No. course for quite a while.
swings, barking at his en- 16 Karen Khachanov of The talented 24-year-old
tourage or mocking anoth- Russia on Saturday, when went from a total of 10 un-
er player not even involved Nadal plays No. 27 Pablo forced errors over the first
in the match at hand. Carreno Busta in an all- couple of sets to 30 over
All of the above happened Spanish matchup. the next two.
during his ever-eventful 6-2, A massive overnight storm During the changeover be-
6-4, 4-6, 7-5 victory over blew dirt all over town, turn- fore the fourth set, Kyrgios
Gilles Simon in the Austra- ing the Yarra River brown expressed his displeasure
lian Open's second round and leaving traces of red with the sort of support he
Thursday night. dust on the blue courts was getting from his group
That included a moment Thursday. The playing sur- in the audience — which Australia's Nick Kyrgios makes a backhand return to France's
when Kyrgios — currently on faces required power included former No. 1 Lley- Gilles Simon during their second round singles match at the
six months' probation from washing, which delayed ton Hewitt — sarcastically Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia,
the ATP for verbally abusing the start of action on some huffing: "So creative.q Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020.
tennis officials — poked fun outside courts for more Associated Press
at the man he might meet than four hours.
in the fourth round, Rafael Among the noteworthy
Nadal. After being warned winners were U.S. Open
for taking more than the al- runner-up Daniil Medve-
lotted 25 seconds between dev, who took a medi-
serves, Kyrgios mimicked cal timeout because of a
how Nadal fidgets before nosebleed late in the sec-
a point, as if to remind the ond set of his 7-5, 6-1, 6-3
chair umpire that there are victory over Spanish quali-
folks who more egregiously fier Pedro Martinez, along
waste time. with two-time French Open
When a reporter asked finalist Dominic Thiem, No.
Nadal about Kyrgios' imi- 7 Alexander Zverev, No. 10
tation of the 19-time major Gael Monfils and a trio of
champion, the Spaniard women who have been
replied: "I really don't care. ranked No. 1 and own
I'm here to play tennis." Grand Slam titles: Simona
About the only boring seg- Halep, Angelique Kerber
ment of the proceedings and Garbiñe Muguruza.
came during the in-stadium Nothing captivated a
interview, when an allusion crowd quite like Kyrgios did
was made to later rounds against Simon, a 35-year-
and Kyrgios, an Australian old from France who is
seeded 23rd, told the Mel- ranked 61st.
bourne Arena crowd, "I'm Not all for good reasons,
not thinking ahead. ... I'm though.
just taking it one match at Yes, Kyrgios delighted the
a time at the moment." fans with his between-the-
Zzzzzzzz. legs shots and his booming
After Kyrgios wrapped up, serves -- to the tune of 28
the No. 1-seeded Nadal aces, including one at 136
was still in the early stages mph to end the match.
of what became a 6-3, 7-6 He also probably made
(4), 6-1 win against Fed- them nervous with the way
erico Delbonis over at Rod he seemed to completely
Laver Arena. give away the third set af-
Those results were the most ter twice being a single
intriguing of Day 4 at the point from serving for the
year's first Grand Slam tour- win, holding break chanc-
nament, especially given es while already leading
the distaste Kyrgios and 4-2. Kyrgios dropped the
Nadal have for each other last four games of that
in a raucous rivalry that pro- set, no longer showing the
vided one of the highlights patience in baseline ex-
of Wimbledon in 2019. changes that helped build