Nick Kyrgios and Rafa Nadal caught in awkward moment at Indian Wells
Things got awkward between Nick Kyrgios and Rafa Nadal even before their blockbuster clash at Indian Wells on Thursday.
As is tradition at the tournament in the California desert, players are transported to the court in golf carts.
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Opposing players will often share a golf cart to save drivers from making two trips, and Kyrgios and Nadal did exactly that on Thursday.
In highly awkward scenes, Kyrgios sat in the front of the cart while Nadal was riding on the back - looking away from his opponent.
The pair didn't appear to share many words as they remained focused on the match, with minimal eye contact as well.
Their quarter-final clash at Indian Wells on Thursday was the ninth time the two players did battle on the court.
Kyrgios famously beat Nadal in the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2016 in their first-ever meeting, but Nadal won five of their next seven clashes.
Their spicy rivalry has turned ugly at times, with Kyrgios previously admitting to hitting a ball at Nadal on purpose.
Things also boiled over in Acapulco in 2019 when Nadal was riled by Kyrgios' tactics and the crowd relentlessly booed the Aussie star.
"He's playing great, everyone knows how good he is when he's motivated," Nadal said before his clash with Kyrgios.
"It will be a good test for me and a good challenge."
Maria Sakkari and Paula Badosa in Indian Wells semi
Earlier on Thursday, Greece's Maria Sakkari overcame a first set deficit to beat Elena Rybakina 7-5 6-4 and book her place in the Indian Wells final four.
The Greek dynamo clawed her way out of a 4-1 first set hole with help from 20 unforced errors by her Kazakh opponent and seized the momentum for good in the second set when she erased four break points to take a 2-0 lead.
The sixth-seeded Sakkari sealed the win when Rybakina shanked a forehand on match point to reach her 20th career semi-final.
It is also her third-straight semi-final this year.
Next up for Sakkari is a showdown with defending champion Paula Badosa of Spain.
Badosa beat Russian Veronika Kudermetova 6-3 6-2 to advance.
with AAP
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