Rafa Nadal tamed a spirited challenge from Nick Kyrgios with a superb performance to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals for the 12th time.
But this fourth round showdown between the world No.1 and the Aussie bad boy lived up to the pre-match hype before the Spaniard won 6-3 3-6 7-6 7-6.
He leaped to joy after sealing the win before the two respectfully shook hands at the net.
Nadal, who will face Dominic Thiem in the last eight, said: “It was a very tough match.
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“It seemed in the beginning I had it under control but against Nick you are never under control because if you make mistakes like I had in the second set and then he has the break it is very difficult to break him again.
“It happened again in the fourth. He played a good game. I played a scary game at 5-4. That is part of sport. You accept that and then I try to recover mentally and try to find again the level of my tennis at 6-5 and for the tiebreak.
“What I can say about Nick? I think when he playing like today with this positive attitude, he gives a lot of positive things to our sport. So encourage him to keep working like this.
“Honestly he is one of the highest talents that we have in this tour and I like the Nick Kyrgios during the whole of this tournament.”
“Honestly he is one of the highest talents that we have in this tour and I like the Nick Kyrgios during the whole of this tournament.”
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