Rafael Nadal repeated his Wimbledon victory over Nick Kyrgios to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
The most-anticipated match of the tournament so far certainly lived up to its billing, with Kyrgios, who paid tribute to basketball star Kobe Bryant by wearing a Los Angeles Lakers vest, throwing everything at the world number one but just coming up short in a 6-3 3-6 7-6 (6) 7-6 (4) defeat.
Nadal next faces Dominic Thiem while there are no former Melbourne champions left in the women's draw after victories for Simona Halep, Garbine Muguruza, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Anett Kontaveit.
Picture of the day
Quote of the day
Conchita Martinez on the reaction to the renewal of her partnership with Garbine Muguruza.
Bringing the tricks
Teenage 'tweener en route to winning the point!@iga_swiatek is having the time of her life on Melbourne Arena.#AO2020 | #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/sMxSKndKSY
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 27, 2020
An underarm serve? 😲
We thought Nick Kyrgios was up later....#AO2020 | #AusOpen | @Gael_Monfils pic.twitter.com/wcXIjur9AW
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 27, 2020
It was not just Kyrgios playing the showman at Melbourne Park on Monday. Gael Monfils, no strange to the unconventional, won a point against Thiem with an underarm serve while Polish teen Iga Swiatek went for the tweener.
Tat's the way
When your mother gets a new tattoo for every title you win 🤣@ThiemDomi | #AusOpenpic.twitter.com/p84lgVyQgd
— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 27, 2020
Tennis players are a superstitious lot but Thiem revealed his mother has established one of the more unusual traditions – getting a new tattoo every time her son wins a tournament.
"Unfortunately I have to confirm it," he said sheepishly. "I really would like to deny it but no.
"I had a pretty bad start to the season last year, some first-round losses, and after a long trip to Indian Wells from Rio, really jet-lagged, she said if you win this title I'm going to make a tattoo. I ended up winning that one so this tradition started."
Fallen seeds
Women: Kiki Bertens (9), Elise Mertens (16), Angelique Kerber (17)
Men: Daniil Medvedev (4), Gael Monfils (10), Andrey Rublev (17), Nick Kyrgios (23)
Who's up next?
Ashleigh Barty is flying the Australian flag alone in singles following Kyrgios' defeat and she will try to avenge a quarter-final loss from last year against Petra Kvitova.
Sofia Kenin and Ons Jabeur will both bid to reach a first grand slam semi-final while Novak Djokovic takes on Milos Raonic and Roger Federer meets Tennys Sandgren.
British trio Joe Salisbury, Ken Skupksi and Jonny O'Mara are all in action in the quarter-finals of the men's doubles.
