Nick Kyrgios fumes over rival's act as winning streak halted

Nick Kyrgios' nine match singles winning streak has been brought to an end, with the 27-year-old outclassed in three sets by Hubert Hurkacz in the Montreal Masters quarter finals.

On a roll after reaching the Wimbledon final earlier this year, Kyrgios put up a brave fight but ran out of steam in the third set, ultimately going down 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 to the eighth-seed Hurkacz.

Kyrgios erupted after the second set when Hurkacz departed the court for a bathroom break in order to change clothes, with the Australian complaining that a change of clothes was hardly necessary in the relatively cool temperatures in Canada.

The short break lead to Kyrgios' body stiffening up on him during the final set, which Hurkacz won in just 27 minutes.

Incredibly, despitev the previous two sets going down to a tiebreak, each of those took a relatively brisk 38 and 41 minutes to be completed respectively - an indicator of the rapid pace of play Kyrgios had hoped to maintain.

Unfortunately, after a loaded schedule which included 10 matches as he won the singles and doubles at the Washington Open, as well as his impressive Wimbledon run.

Already having played 15 games in the last month alone on the US hardcourt swing, Kyrgios admitted his mind wasn't fully focused on keeping his winning streak alive when he faced Hurkacz.

"I honestly don't care [about losing the winning streak]," said Kyrgios. He added, "I've been away from home, away from my mum, away from my dad.

"They're not very well at the moment. So I don't really care about 'no winning streak'.

"I got two more tournaments [Cincinnati and the US Open] left before I can go home."

Kyrgios had won 15 of his past 16 singles matches, with the only defeat against Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final - a lot of tennis for a player who has pursued a less busy schedule in recent years.

Hurkacz took the first set on the tie-break with a backhand winner. Kyrgios then levelled, also via the tie-break, with an ace.

But he swiftly went 0-3 down in the final set and required four game points to hold for 1-3. But on Kyrgios' next service game Hurkacz saved four game points before breaking at the first attempt to go 5-1 up and end the Australian's resistance.

Nick Kyrgios fumes over change of clothes in Montreal

Despite his later insistence that he didn't care about his winning streak, Kyrgios remained largely composed despite his outburt at the umpire during Hurkacz absence.

Clearly viewing the halt in proceedings as an attempt to cool his momentum, Kyrgios made his feeling clear in no uncertain terms.

“We’re not f***ing machines, bro,” Kyrgios said.

“We can’t just go and stop, go and stop, go and stop.

“No-one needs to change f***ing clothes in f***ing 15 degree heat. 15 f***ing degrees bro.”

While his frustrations boiled over in the moment, after the match Kyrgios seemed to concede that such a situation was simply part of tennis.

“Obviously when you’re playing and you stop for like five to 10 minutes, it doesn’t help your body,” Kyrgios said after the match.

“My body was so stiff after that, I couldn’t move properly.

“I mean, it’s within the rules. I’m not going to complain. I completely stiffened up.”

Hurkacz had been vary of Kyrgios' impressive form leading into the match, having won 15 of his previous 16 singles matches.

The Polish star conceded as well that Kyrgios' serve had been impacted by a slight injury.

"Nick has been playing really unbelievable throughout the past few months," Hurkacz said.

"Battling against him, it's very challenging, but it's also fun.

"He can make every single shot. He doesn't really have that many weaknesses, if any. I was just trying to serve good and stay aggressive."

In the semi-finals Hurkacz will play fourth seed Casper Ruud.

The Norwegian thrashed local favourite Felix Auger-Aliassime, handing the young Canadian the heaviest defeat of his career 6-1 6-2.

With AAP

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