Nick Kyrgios recovered from a slow and difficult first set on Thursday night to reach the quarter-finals of the Japan Open, defeating Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.
The 27-year-old, served 22 aggressive aces on top of many effortless points but also several unforces mistakes.
Kyrgios said that despite Majchrzak breaking his serve, there was “never really doubt in my mind that I was going to win”.
“I’ve barely been broken all year,” so when “the opponent doesn’t really do much to break me it’s quite frustrating,” he said after the 1h 21min match.
“I was just not playing the right way — the court’s very fast,” Kyrgios added. “I ended up just weathering the storm and then coming through”.
“I’ve got really good confidence in my game right now. So I don’t really doubt myself, even when I’m down a set … firing Grand Slams has given me that confidence.”
The world No.20 has now made the quarterfinals in nine out of the 13 tournaments he has played this year, and is the only player to win at least one match at every tournament he has contested.
Kyrgios will face third-seeded American Taylor Fritz in the quarter-finals while he is also playing doubles alongside Thanasi Kokkinakis with whom he has already made it into the semi-finals after winning their first two matches in straight sets.
“Tennis is stressful as hell in singles, you try to hold yourself in such high accountability every single time and you could be out here for three hours and it’s exhausting and so serious, playing doubles with Thanasi brings that fun element back,” he said after the win over Majchrzak.
“But at the same time it’s my job, I need to make money and that’s how I do it so I play both events.
“I mean towards the end I played lights out, I forgot really how fast this court is and how big you can play on it so I started playing the right way. Play more aggressive like stop trying to rally and just trying to hit winners from everywhere.”
The Special Ks will face Mackenzie McDonald and Marcelo Melo in the semi-finals on Saturday.