'You'll never see a bigger tank': Kyrgios's second-set meltdown

Nick Kyrgios has produced the craziest set of his life during possibly the strangest victory of his career.

The young Aussie moved into the Round of 16 at the Cincinnati Open on Thursday (AEST) with a 7-6 (1), 0-6, 6-3 win over Croatian youngster Borna Coric.

And one word sums up the bizarre match perfectly: rollercoaster.

The No.15 seed was pushed to a tiebreaker in the first set but overcame the Croatian 7-1 to strike the early blow in the match.

But Kyrgios was clearly struggling with his oft-injured knees, and went into meltdown mode during the second set.

It quickly went pear-shaped for the temperamental Australian who lost his cool and composure in the second set before surrendering 6-0.

The fiery Canberrran first blasted a ball into the stands at 2-0 down in the set, before exchanging some banter with the crowd.

“You wanna be a referee?” Kyrgios asked. “You’re all eligible.”

He had another crack at the umpire later in the set.

“He can screw up a number of times, and nothing happens to him,” he said.

“It’s continual and it’s every time I play with him, and no-one in the locker room likes him. So why is he here?”

Trailing 0-3, Kyrgios was left fuming by a line call that he (and the crowd) disagreed with, reportedly telling his box he was about to ‘tank’ the rest of the set.

According to Egyptian journalist Reem Abulleil: “Kyrgios is so p***ed, tells his team he doesn’t wanna play if he gets cheated by an umpire. You’ll never see a bigger tank than the next 3 games,” she tweeted.

Kyrgios then fired a ball into the crowd and earned a point penalty for his troubles.

At 0-5, a spectator called for the Aussie to lift, to which he quipped: “It’s 5-0 mate.”

He then reportedly started walking to his chair before Coric had even hit the shot that sealed the 6-0 second set.

But in an incredible show of resiliency, Kyrgios regained his composure and got on with the job.

In the past the young Aussie probably would have lost the third set as well, but he managed to regroup and get back to his best, winning the match 6-3 in the third.

The bizarre but entertaining encounter had many fans calling it the best match they’d ever seen.

Kyrgios repeatedly let his frustrations with Coric known to those in attendance, sick of being made to wait by his opponent before serving, and wanting Coric to hurry his own service games up.

At one stage he suggested he was bored with waiting for Coric and would much rather be chowing down on a Big Mac.