'I'm excited to see what's next': Federer praises Kyrgios

Roger Federer has become one of millions of tennis fans anticipating further breakthroughs for Nick Kyrgios in 2018 after the youngster's positive showing at the Australian Open.

Kyrgios was defeated by world No.3 Grigor Dimitrov in four entertaining sets, including three tiebreaks, on Sunday night.

The match was so close that Dimitrov won just one more point than Kyrgios across the entire contest.

Kyrgios emerged as a contender after knocking out tricky opponents in Viktor Troicki and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on his way to the fourth round.

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With a Davis Cup clash against Germany in Brisbane on the horizon, Australians won't have to wait long to see the world No.17 in action again.

Swiss great Federer was so impressed with the match that he stayed up until near midnight to watch all four sets, despite his rare day match on Monday.

"I thought Nick was serving unbelievable again and Grigor was doing an unbelievable job of staying with him," Federer said after progressing to the quarter-finals.

"He was playing very well, I was impressed at Grigor's grit of staying in there with him for as long as he did. It was a tough match and I'm sure we can expect more."

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Kyrgios ebbed and flowed throughout 2017 as injuries interrupted his progress.

But with the 22-year-old showing off a much-improved mental side of his game, Federer can see things clicking into place for the Canberra product.

"Now we'll see what happens," the world No.2 added.

"Davis Cup's next for him (but) it's not one match or one week -- it's every week of the year. So I'm excited to see what's next for Nick now."

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