Nick Kyrgios’ impressive run at the Madrid Masters has come to an end at the hands of American John Isner, who claimed a hard-fought 6-3, 6-7 (7/5), 6-4 win in the third round.
Kyrgios, despite prevailing over top seed Roger Federer on the clay courts in Madrid on Thursday morning (AEST), fell to the 16th seed.
In a battle of two big servers, it was the big American who held the advantage, recording 20 aces to Kyrgios’ 10 while serving at 73 per cent on the first serve.
Kyrgios, perhaps fatigued after his epic encounter with Federer the day before, failed to record even one break point against the 16th seed, who will now face Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals.
Kyrgios won the match against Federer 6-7 (2/7), 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (14/12) and denied him any chance at a fifth title at the claycourt Masters event.
The Canberra-born Kyrgios, ranked 35th, is the youngest in the Top 50 of the Emirates ATP Rankings and achieved his first ATP World Tour final at the Millennium Estoril Open last week.
Meanwhile at the Masters, Rafael Nadal raced into the last eight by brushing aside unseeded Italian Simone Bolelli 6-2, 6-2 to set up a quarter-final clash against Bulgarian 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov.
Chasing a third straight title at the clay Masters event in the Spanish capital, and a fifth overall, third seed Nadal needed little more than an hour to see off an outclassed Bolelli, saving both break points he faced on his serve.
Andy Murray made light work of Spain’s Marcel Granollers to seal his place in the quarter-finals 6-2, 6-0.
Source: ABC