Nick Kyrgios is through to the quarter-finals of the China Open in Beijing after finishing strongly to defeat Mischa Zverev 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 on Wednesday.
“I knew it was going to be tough,” said Kyrgios, who struck 11 aces and converted all four of his break point opportunities in the 82-minute win. “He plays a very old-school type of tennis, likes to come forward a lot.
“I got broken early in the first. Then I kind of knew I had to loosen up and find my rhythm a little bit. I started serving much better, started just relaxing. I knew I was going to feel pretty comfortable at some stage out there. Obviously just really happy to get through.”
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Kyrgios goes on to face Steve Darcis as he bids to advance to his fifth ATP World Tour semi-final of the season. The 22-year-old Australian reached his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final in August at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati (l. to Dimitrov) and has a 29-14 match record on the season.
Darcis beat fellow qualifier Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-4 in 73 minutes. The Belgian is through to his fourth ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season and will look for revenge against Kyrgios, whom he lost to in five sets last month in the Davis Cup semi-finals.
