Nick Kyrgios’s U.S. Open Run Ends One Match After Beating the Top Seed

Khachanov won the three-hour, 39-minute scrap, 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 6-7, 6-4. Kyrgios looked to have the momentum after taking the fourth-set tiebreaker, but he lost his serve in the opening game of the fifth set and never recovered.

“Crazy match,” Khachanov, the No. 27 seed, said in his on-court interview. He will face Casper Ruud of Norway, the No. 5 seed, in the semifinals.

For Kyrgios, the talented but temperamental Australian, the loss came two nights after he eliminated the top seed and the defending champion, Daniil Medvedev, another Russian. On Monday, Rafael Nadal, the 22-time Grand Slam singles champion, lost in fourth sets to Frances Tiafoe, a rising American.

Nadal’s loss was less of a surprise than Medvedev’s, especially because few would have been shocked if the two had met in the finals had they landed on opposite sides of the draw. The surprise was how efficiently the 23rd-seeded Kyrgios had steam-rolled Medvedev, who is widely recognized as the world’s top hardcourt player, in the third and fourth sets.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/07/sports/tennis/kyrgios-khachanov-us-open-quarterfinals.html