Kyrgios Hangs Tough To Beat Karlovic In Cincinnati

Nick Kyrgios hung tough on Friday as he began a double shift at the Western & Southern Open. The Australian advanced to his third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final (also Indian Wells and Miami) of the year by finding a way past Ivo Karlovic of Croatia in a 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-3 victory over one hour and 56 minutes. The pair began today with Karlovic leading 4-3 in the first set, following rain on Thursday.

Kyrgios will now play top seed and 2013 champion Rafael Nadal or Albert Ramos-Vinolas later today for a place in the semi-finals. Kyrgios trails Nadal 1-2 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, but the pair has never met on hard courts. He leads Ramos-Vinolas 2-1 (1-1 on hard courts).

Karlovic broke Kyrgios in the final game of the first set and looked in a good serving rhythm (28 aces, losing 11 first-service points in total) before his Australian opponent made inroads on return, with clever low placement. Kyrgios led 5/2 in the tie-break, but Karlovic came close to a 6/5 advantage but for striking a forehand volley wide when lunging for the ball. Kyrgios maintained his composure in the decider and sealed the crucial break in the fourth game. Although Kyrgios could not convert two match points on Karlovic’s serve at 5-2, he closed out to love in the next game for his 24th match win of the season.

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