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SPORTS Saturday 20 January 2018

Kyrgios beat Tsonga Nikoloz Basilashvili in five
sets in 3½ hours on an open
court in the peak of the
Continued from Page 17 The other French Open heat, earning a spot in the
champion, Jelena Ostap- next round against Seppi.
enko, followed Nadal on Also, No. 10 Pablo Carreno
“Playing Jo, I was obviously Margaret Court Arena but Busta beat No. 23 Gilles
very nervous. He was a guy didn’t make it through to Muller and will next play
I looked up to as a kid. Still the second week, losing No. 6 Marin Cilic, who had
do,” Kyrgios said in an on- 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to 32nd-seed- a 7-6 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (4) win
court interview, recounting ed Anett Kontaveit. over Ryan Harrison.
how he brought a ball to The seventh-seeded Osta- As it cooled off, third-
be signed by Tsonga every penko’s loss left only two ranked Grigor Dimitrov
day when the Frenchman major champions in the beat No. 30 Andrey Rublev
reached the Australian women’s draw. Only one of 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to secure
Open final in 2008. them can reach the fourth a spot in the fourth round
Then he gave a nod to round; Maria Sharapova against Kyrgios, who beat
Smith, the actor he would meets Angelique Kerber to him at the Brisbane Inter-
pick to play the role of Kyr- determine which one. national last month on the
gios if there was a movie to The youngest player in the way to the title.
be made. tournament and the oldest Kyrgios has been a divi-
“When I saw him out here player in the men’s draw sive character in Australia,
I was so nervous. No joke,” went out on Day 5. getting plenty of criticism
Kyrgios said. Fourth-seeded Elina Svi- for his off-color comments
“People think I’m cool, but tolina ended 15-year-old to Stan Wawrinka about
I wanted him to think I was Marta Kostyuk’s run with a his girlfriend and his fine in
the coolest person ever.” 6-2, 6-2 victory. 2016 for showing a “lack
Cool was the optimal Kostyuk entered the tour- of best efforts,” unsport-
word late on Day 5, when nament ranked No. 521 ing conduct and verbally
a threatening heat wave and her wins in the first abusing a spectator at the
subsided and no matches two rounds made her the Shanghai Masters.
were suspended despite youngest player to win His two previous matches
searing temperatures hit- main-draw matches at the at Rod Laver Arena have
ting 40 degrees Celsius (104 Australian Open since Mar- ended in losses — to five-
degrees Fahrenheit) at tina Hingis in 1996. time finalist Andy Murray in
Melbourne Park for a sec- Andreas Seppi withstood 2016 and to former Wimble-
ond straight day. 52 aces from Ivo Karlovic don finalist Tomas Berdych
The Kyrgios-Tsonga match for a 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (3), 6-7 in 2015 — so Kyrgios has
pushed top-ranked Ra- (5), 9-7 win, sending the big Australia’s Nick Kyrgios plays the ball back between his legs to favored the outside courts
fael Nadal onto the No. 2 Croat out of the tourna- Serbia’s Viktor Troicki during their second round match at the until now.
court at Melbourne Park ment about a month shy of Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, The public perception may
for his match against Damir his 39th birthday. Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. be changing, and he’s
Dzumhur. Players were bothered and Associated Press almost a certainty to get
The change of scenery spectators clamored for among those calling for a from 5-1 down in the third another prime-time slot on
worked for Nadal, who lost shade and mist-spraying review of the limits that de- set to progress through the Rod Laver.
last year’s final to Roger Fe- fans earlier Friday, and or- termine when play should second round, Wozniacki “It doesn’t worry me at all.
derer before going on to ganizers were on the verge be suspended. advanced 6-4, 6-3 over No. It’s not something I wake
win the French Open and of enforcing the tourna- “I started to feel dizzy. ... 30 Kiki Bertens on her fourth up and I’m like, ‘Look, to-
U.S. Open titles. ment’s extreme heat pol- I felt that I could faint at match point. day I’m going to try to
Nadal reached the fourth icy before temperatures any moment,” Cornet said. ”Nothing to lose. I got a change the perception,”
round in Australia for the dropped significantly after “Playing in this condition is second chance. I’m just said Kyrgios, who reached
11th time with the 6-1, 6-3, peaking at about 2 p.m. of course very dangerous.” going to try and take it and the Wimbledon quarterfi-
6-1 win. Alize Cornet, who had her Second-seeded Caroline see how far I can go,” said nals as a teenager in 2014.
He will next play No. 24 Di- blood pressure checked Wozniacki also made it Wozniacki, who will play “I’ve always played the
ego Schwartzman, who during a medical timeout through. No. 19 Magdalena Ryba- same way. Nothing has
beat Aleksandr Dolgopo- in her 7-5, 6-4 third-round Two days after saving two- rikova next. changed. I’ve always been
lov 6-7 (1), 6-2, 6-3, 6-3. loss to Elise Mertens, was match points and rallying Kyle Edmund overcame emotional.”q