Top seed Daniil Medvedev beaten by Nick Kyrgios at US Open
By
Tim Roskam, USA TODAY Sports |
Posted: May 24, 2013 | 2:50 PM
NEW YORK — The world’s top ranked singles tennis player, 12-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal, was stunned when he was beaten by Nick Kyrgios in the third round of the U.S. Open on Monday.
The Australian player had no answer for Kyrgios in the final set of his first round match and barely survived Kyrgios’ vicious ground-stroke-faulting at one point of the second set.
“The match was tough. He is quite aggressive and very solid,” Nadal said. “I’m not sure how to describe that.”
The 21-year-old Kyrgios was one of the youngest players to reach the U.S. Open, and he has now won this year’s event on the ATP Tour.
He came into the match ranked No. 1 for this week’s season-ending ranking and was bidding to beat the record for a second consecutive year, set by Russian-born world No. 1, Andy Murray.
Kyrgios, ranked No. 2, was seeded second for his US Open opponent in the event. He played the first set without dropping a game but hit a backhand return into the net at 6-all. Kyrgios then served for the set at love.
The 15-year-old Canadian, who reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, played well but could not handle a serve at 2-all that he blasted to the far side of the net.
“I made a lot of mistakes, I made some big mistakes. I just need to be smarter about it, and just keep practicing and keep working on it,” Kyrgios said.
Nadal came into the match ranked No. 5. The Spaniard has won this year’s Grand Slam doubles title with
