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Men’s Day 6: Nadal moves into 4th round; Kyrgios upends Tsitsipas

London, Jul 2 (EFE).- Second-seed Rafael Nadal advanced to the fourth round of the 2022 Wimbledon Championships with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 win Saturday over Lorenzo Sonego, while the fourth seed, Stefanos Tsitsipas, was toppled by Nick Kyrgios in a match that saw both players sanctioned by the officials.

It was a 17th consecutive Grand Slam match victory for the 36-year-old Spaniard.

“Well probably it’s been my best match during The Championships,” world No. 4 Nadal said afterward. “Against probably the most difficult player I faced. My level has been able to raise a lot. Super happy for that.”

Asked about his hopes for a third Wimbledon crown, which would also extend his record of Grand Slam titles to 23, Nadal was philosophical.

“It’s always a tricky thing. I went through some tough injuries during all my tennis career, but in some way I feel very lucky that I’m still able to play at my age,” he said.

The 27-year-old Italian drew a verbal rebuke from Nadal at one point during the match by asking for the roof to be closed.

But their exchange was nothing compared with the displays of bad temper during the Tsitsipas-Kyrgios match.

The Greek, ranked fifth in the world, took the first set 7-6 before watching the 40th-ranked Australian win the next three sets 6-4, 6-3, 7-6.

Kyrgios, who last reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2016, said afterward that despite the gap between him and Tsitsipas in the rankings, he “felt like the favorite coming in.”

“It was an amazing atmosphere and a hell of a match,” he said following a contest that saw three code violations issued: one on he Australian for an audible obscenity and two on Tsitsipas for ball abuse.

Tsitsipas had a different take, describing Kyrgios’ approach as “constant bullying.”

“He bullies the opponents. He was probably a bully at school himself,” the Greek said of the Australian. “He has some good traits in his character, as well. But he also has a very evil side to him.”

EFE

/dr

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