Nick Kyrgios' message to Daniil Medvedev after win over World No.1
Nick Kyrgios has moved to play down his victory over Daniil Medvedev at the Canadian Open, saying things might be different if they played at grand slam level.
Kyrgios continued his sparkling form on Wednesday with an incredible three-set victory over the World No.1 in Montreal.
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The Aussie star, who was runner-up to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon last month, wore down Medvedev 6-7 (1) 6-4 6-2 in a sapping second-round encounter played in searing heat and humidity.
After being blown away in the opening set tiebreaker, Kyrgios dug deep and turned the match around with an incredible backhand passing shot to break Medvedev in the sixth game of the deciding set.
He broke the dispirited Russian for a second-straight service game before closing out the match to love after exactly two hours.
The victory was Kyrgios' third over Medvedev in four career meetings and his second over a current World No.1 – eight years after shocking Rafael Nadal on his Wimbledon debut as a teenager.
It was also Kyrgios' 14th win from past 15 matches, with his only loss during that time coming in the Wimbledon final.
“I’ve had some success against him in the past and he’s beaten me before so I feel like we know each others’ games well,” Kyrgios said after the match.
“I’m not the type of player who goes into these matches looking at rankings or anything like that.
“It’s just who I’m playing and what kind of ball they’re giving me and today I had a very clean objective of how I was going to play – a lot of serve and volley, a lot of aggressive play from the back – and I executed better than he did on the day.
“That’s all it came down to. He won the first set and I feel like I had opportunities there as well so hopefully I can keep this rolling.”
Nick Kyrgios not getting carried away before US Open
Kyrgios, who will now player Australian No.1 Alex de Minaur for a place in the quarter-finals, isn’t getting carried away despite firming as one of the US Open favourites following his rousing victory over last year’s champion in New York.
“Look, a grand slam is much, much different to any other tournament,” he said.
“If I was in this position of a grand slam, you’ve still got to win another set and that’s not easy at all. He’s a machine.
“He’s the best player in the world for a reason and at a grand slam he’s a totally different beast.”
Currently sitting at World No.37 because Wimbledon was stripped of rankings points, Wednesday's victory means Kyrgios is all but assured of claiming a top-32 seeding for the US Open - starting on August 29.
“Look, I feel confident in my body and my mentality going in to the US Open but at the same time there’s so much time between then and now,” Kyrgios said.
“I’ve got to focus on this event and then Cincinnati. There’s so many things I’ve got to look forward to. I’m not even going to think about the US Open right now.
“I need to take care of my body.”
De Minaur set up a first-time meeting with Kyrgios with a 7-6 (7-4) 7-5 second-round win over Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the 15th seed.
with AAP
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