(Indian Wells) Rafael Nadal defeated Nick Kyrgios 7-6 (0), 5-7, 6-4 on Thursday to reach the semi-finals in Indian Wells.
Updated at 12:23 a.m.
Crowned in Australia, the Spaniard is unbeaten in 19 games in 2022.
Kyrgios smashed his racquet to the ground following the post-match handshake.
He conceded the first set when the referee gave Nadal a point at 6-0 to break the stalemate, after Kyrgios made vulgar remarks to a spectator.
The Australian also played the mariole in the sixth game of the first set with a serve from below, at 40-0. Nadal easily landed a forehand out of reach, but Kyrgios then took a 4-2 lead with an ace.
He also led 3-1 and 5-3 in the opening set.
After breaking a racket at 5-6, Kyrgios handed the item to a young spectator.
Kyrgios snatched the second set on a backhand volley, but Nadal ended up winning in two hours and 46 minutes.
Seeded fourth, Nadal won the last game to nil. He gave himself a match point thanks to an ace, then he triumphed on a forehand.
In women’s doubles, two Canadians had the chance to get a ticket to the final and to face each other afterwards. In the end, no representative of the maple leaf qualified.
The Lavaloise Leylah Annie Fernandez and the French Alizé Cornet lost their flag against the Chinese Yifan Xu and Zhaoxuan Yang, 7-5, 6-1.
The Chinese pair needed only 1 hour 17 minutes to win and get their pass for the final.
Despite the dominance in terms of statistics, Fernandez and her teammate won 42% of rallies (45/108), which illustrates a closer duel than at first glance.
In the other semi-final, Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and Mexico’s Giuliana Olmos were eliminated. They were beaten 7-6 (6), 3-6 and 10-5 by American Asia Muhammad and Japanese Ena Shibahara.
In singles, defending champion and fifth seed Paula Badosa won 6-3, 6-2 over Veronika Kudermetova.
Her semi-final rival will be Greece’s Maria Sakkari, seeded sixth.