Nick Kyrgios continued his rise to prominence after securing a second-round win over Federer to send the Swiss legend packing from the ongoing Madrid Masters.
Ranked 35th in the world, Kyrgios crushed Federer’s hopes of winning a fourth Madrid trophy by claiming a 6-7 (2/7), 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (14/12) win in a match that lasted over two and a half hours.
“I think he’s the greatest of all time… I knew before the match that I would have to play one of the greatest matches I have ever played, I wasn’t intimidated at all,” the remarkably composed 20-year-old said in a post-match interview.
“I have a lot of respect for him. It was just another tennis match, it was a chance to go out there and enjoy yourself and I happened to get the win.
Federer expected to celebrate the first birthday of his twin boys Lenny and Leo with a routine victory and that seemed the case as he eased to a first set win. The irritation heightened up when the second set slipped away under a barrage of aces and crunching baseline winners. Federer wasted two match points in the tension-filled third set tiebreak.
Kyrgios will next face USA’s John Isner in the third round of the competition.
Photo credits: smh.com.au
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