Nick Kyrgios booed off court after quitting match

Nick Kyrgios has drawn the ire of fans yet again after retiring hurt in his quarter-final clash at the Atlanta Open.

The polarising Aussie was trailing 7-5, 3-0 against Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie on Saturday when he decided to call it quits.

Kyrgios had earlier taken a medical timeout and looked to be struggling with his troublesome hip.

But the crowd offered him little sympathy after his retirement was announced, loudly booing the young Aussie as he trudged off court.

At times Kyrgios seemed disinterested in the contest, with his effort in question late in the opening set before he meekly double-faulted to give Norrie the early break in the second.

Kyrgios also appeared to be imitating some of his colleagues’ serves, which he also did on Friday in his win over Noah Rubin.

Roger Federer, Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga all got the treatment when Kyrgios was feeling cheeky.

Norrie expressed sympathy for Kyrgios after the match.

“I really feel for the guy,” the Brit said.

“He’s so talented. Who knows what he could do in tennis if he was healthy?”

It’s now up to Matt Ebden to fly the Australian flag in the last four after he required just 71 minutes to defeat Marcos Baghdatis.

The Australian world No.55 broke the Cypriot’s serve three times to secure a comfortable 6-3 6-2 win over the former Australian Open finalist.

Ebden is through to his second tour-level semi-final of the year as he strives for his maiden ATP Tour title.

The 30-year-old has not dropped a set in Atlanta but will face a stern test next when he faces top seed John Isner for a place in the final.

The American was pushed to three sets by German sixth seed Mischa Zverev before he prevailed 7-5 4-6 6-1, dropped just two first-serve points in the match and sending down 21 aces.

Ebden is 1-3 against Isner but won their past meeting in January at the Australian Open.

“I am definitely playing better than I was in the beginning of the year. I was struggling a little bit,” Isner, a four-times champion in Atlanta, said.

“To his credit, he (Ebden) played much better than me that day in Australia. He had the home crowd on his side. It helps a lot.

“Now, I’m playing in my backyard and he beat me in his backyard. We’ll see if I can turn the tide.”

with AAP