MELBOURNE: Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic kept dreams alive of a first home win in the Australian Open for 39 years with third-round victories on Friday.
Kyrgios, 19, a quarter-finalist at last year's Wimbledon, reached the fourth round with a 6-3, 7-6 (8/6), 6-1 beating of Tunisia's Malek Jaziri.
The 53rd-ranked Kyrgios will now face Italian Andreas Seppi, who sensationally knocked 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer out of the tournament.
Tomic, 22, won the all-Australian duel with Sam Groth 6-4, 7-6 (10/8), 6-3 to take his place in the next round where he will play last year's semi-finalist, Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych.
Kyrgios and Tomic are the first Australians to reach the last 16 of their national open since both Tomic and Lleyton Hewitt made the stage in 2012.
Hewitt was the last Australian finalist in 2005, losing to Marat Safin, with Mark Edmonson the last Aussie man to win the title in 1976.
"Obviously, I'd rather play Seppi than Federer, of course. But I know it's going to be a really tough match in a couple days. I'm just going to do everything I can now to prepare," Kyrgios said.
Tomic said of his match with Berdych: "We played twice before. He's a very, very good player. He's been at the top for many years. I have to come to this match to play my tennis, and then I have a chance."
Comments
Comments are closed.