Nick Kyrgios has overcome frustration — and odd smells — at Louis Armstrong Stadium to beat France's Benjamin Bonzi and make it through to round three of the US Open.
Kyrgios was in a constant conversation with his team box throughout the three-hour match, before winning out 7-6 (7/3), 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, joining fellow Australian Alex de Minaur in the next round.
He looked solid early, moving out to a two set lead, but was never completely at ease against the Frenchman, who produced some excellent play to frustrate the Canberran.
Kyrgios sent down 30 aces, and hit a huge 65 winners.
But he was made to work all the way, coming from 0-40 down in the penultimate game of the match to hold serve, before breaking Bonzi to end the contest.
At one point in the second set, Kyrgios approached the umpire and complained about an apparent smell of marijuana.
"You don't want to remind anyone not to do it or anything. No?" Kyrgios said.
"It was f****** marijuana. Marijuana. It was smoke. Obviously I'm not going to complain about food smells, obviously not.
"Obviously when athletes are moving side-to-side, and when they have asthma already, it's probably not ideal."
The chair umpire then made an announcement, asking the crowd to refrain from smoking around the court.
After the match, a relieved Kyrgios praised Bonzi for his play and said he had been pushed to the limit.
"I was literally hanging by a thread," he said.
"I have high expectations, my team has high expectations, to go deep [in the tournament] this week. I'm just glad I got through."
De Minaur gets his revenge on Garin
No more Mr Nice Guy — Alex de Minaur has showcased his ruthless streak in dishing out some cold-blooded revenge and moving mercilessly into the US Open third round.
De Minaur disposed of Chilean Cristian Garín 6-3, 6-0, 4-6, 6-2 on Wednesday to power into the last 32 at Flushing Meadows for the fourth time in five visits.
Garín was the culprit who saved a match point and battled back from two sets to love down to beat de Minaur in the fourth round at Wimbledon — and the Australian number one had not forgotten.
That crushing defeat at the All England Club was among the most despairing of de Minaur's career and the 18th seed readily admitted this week he was eyeing atonement in New York.
Clearly offended by Garín's spirited Wimbledon comeback, when the South American played lights out for the last two and a half sets, de Minaur was intent from the outset of the return bout to set the record straight.
From 3-3 in the opening set, de Minaur turned the screws to reel off nine games straight to take a stranglehold on the match.
He gained a fifth service break to charge ahead 4-2 in the third set before suffering his only brief wobble.
De Minaur dropped serve to allow Garín back on level terms.
Then, serving again at 4-5, he framed an overhead and double-faulted to gift the South American a set point.
The world number 20 could have been forgiven for harbouring dark thoughts as Garín snatched the set to begin mounting another fightback.
But that only made his victory more satisfying as he exorcised the demons of Wimbledon with a steely fourth set.
"I'm very happy with my level, but probably the happiest with how I was mentally. That, for me, was very important coming into the match and how I dealt with the circumstances," de Minaur said.
"Yeah, happy to get through another match. That's what I'm so proud of, that I was able to bounce back and not let it affect me.
"I easily could have started thinking about what happened in Wimby, being two sets to love up and kind of letting that one escape away from me.
"But I kind of knuckled down, stuck to my weapons and my tactics and what I wanted to do. I was able to go on top on the third and play some great tennis to finish it off."
De Minaur next plays Spain's 12th seed and two-time US Open semi-finalist Pablo Carreño Busta on Friday (Saturday AEST) for a place in the fourth round.
Jason Kubler has continued his stellar season with his first US Open victory in four years.
Kubler returned to Flushing Meadows on Wednesday to complete a four-set victory over Swede Mikael Ymer in a match suspended the previous night because of rain.
The 29-year-old won 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to become the seventh Australian to make the second round in New York.
After also reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon and being the last Australian standing at Roland Garros, Kubler will finally return to the world's top 100 with his latest victory.
Jordan Thompson came out on the wrong end of a five-setter against Colombia's Daniel Galan, with Galan winning 6-3, 2-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Australian women's number one Ajla Tomljanovic was pushed all the way by Evgeniya Rodina, before winning 1-6, 6-2, 7-5 to reach the third round.
Next up she will have the marquee match of the round, facing Serena Williams in the final major tournament of her career, after the American superstar beat Anett Kontaveit in three sets.
AAP / ABC
