Kyrgios barks, mocks his way to Australian Open's 3rd round
Medvedev, Thiem, Zverev, Monfils also advance on men's side
Love him or hate him — and make no mistake, there are plenty in each camp — Nick Kyrgios never allows for a dull moment when he's on a tennis court, whether it's shot selection, showmanship, momentum swings, barking at his entourage or mocking another player not even involved in the match at hand.
All of the above happened during his ever-eventful 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 victory over Gilles Simon in the Australian Open's second round Thursday night.
That included a moment when Kyrgios poked fun at the man he might meet in the fourth round, Rafael Nadal. After being warned for taking more than the allotted 25 seconds between serves, Kyrgios mimicked the way Nadal fidgets before a point, as if to remind the chair umpire that there are folks who more egregiously waste time.
About the only boring segment of the proceedings came during the post-match interview, when an allusion was made to later rounds and Kyrgios, an Australian seeded 23rd, told the Melbourne Arena crowd, "I'm not thinking ahead. ... I'm just taking it one match at a time at the moment."
WATCH | Kyrgios mocks Nadal at Australian Open:
When Kyrgios wrapped up, the No. 1-seeded Nadal was early in the second set of his match over at Rod Laver Arena against Federico Delbonis.
Those results were going to be the most intriguing aspects of Day 4 at the year's first Grand Slam tournament, especially given the distaste Kyrgios and Nadal have for each other in a raucous rivalry that provided one of the highlights of Wimbledon in 2019.
Never too early to begin pondering a meeting with a quarterfinal berth at stake during Week 2 in Melbourne, with the popular Nadal facing the home-backed Kyrgios.
A massive overnight storm blew dirt all over town, turning the Yarra River brown and leaving traces of red dust on the blue courts. The playing surfaces required power washing, which delayed the start of action on some outside courts for more than four hours.
Among the noteworthy winners were U.S. Open runner-up Daniil Medvedev, who took a medical timeout because of a nosebleed late in the second set of his 7-5, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Spanish qualifier Pedro Martinez, along with two-time French Open finalist Dominic Thiem, No. 7 Alexander Zverev, No. 10 Gael Monfils and a trio of women who have been ranked No. 1 and own Grand Slam titles: Simona Halep, Angelique Kerber and Garbine Muguruza.
Nothing captivated a crowd the way Kyrgios did against Simon, a 35-year-old from France currently ranked 61st.
Not all for good reasons, though.
Yes, he delighted the fans with his between-the-legs shots and his booming serves — to the tune of 28 aces, including at 136 mph to end the match.
He also probably made them nervous with the way he seemed to completely give away the third set after twice being a single point from serving for the win, holding break chances while already leading 4-2. Kyrgios dropped the last four games of that set, no longer showing the patience in baseline exchanges that helped build a lead in the first place.
Canada's Dabrowski advances in doubles play
Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski is off to the second round of the women's doubles draw.
The Ottawa native and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the sixth seeds, beat Maria Sakkari of Greece and Alja Tomljanovic of Australia 7-6, 6-4 in the first round on Thursday.
Dabrowski, ranked eighth in the world in doubles, has a new partner in Ostapenko for the opening Grand Slam of the season. She split with previous partner Yifan Xu of China after last season.
Dabrowski and Xu's best result at Grand Slam was a runner-up showing at last year's Wimbledon final.
Dabrowski and Ostapenko will face Americans Asia Muhammad and Sabrina Santamaria in the second round.
Dabrowski also is seeded third in the mixed doubles draw with Finnish partner Henri Kontinen. They open play Friday against Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic and Kevin Krawietz of Germany.
In singles, Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., is the lone Canadian remaining. The No. 32 seed faces No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece in the third round on Friday.