Nick Kyrgios was faced with a court invader who wanted a selfie during his Miami Open defeat to Jannick Sinner. The Australian was involved in yet another explosive match, which featured a tirade at the umpire and racket smashes.
In the early stages of the second set, the match was paused momentarily as security removed the fan who tried to approach Kyrgios. The 26-year-old began the second set in the worst possible manner by smashing his racket and demanded a supervisor come to the court.
As a result, Bernardes handed the former world No 13 his second penalty of the match, meaning he lost the game and began the second set 1-0 and a break down. Before that however, the big server moaned about the difference of the surface on the Grandstand court where he played today, compared to the main Stadium court, where he had played his three previous matches of the tournament.
Following his outburst, the Aussie received a code violation for audible obscenity early in the first set. His frustrations continued to boil over in the first set tie break and this marked his first penalty of the encounter, resulting in the loss of the next point.
Things then escalated when the ninth seed took the opener 7-6(3), after Kyrigos double-faulted on set point. Retreating to his bench for the changeover, the 26-year-old continued shouting at the umpire to explain why he had received a violation for unsportsmanlike conduct.
The big server continued his rant at the umpire, also speaking to his box. Kyrgios, who lost a combined nine games against seeded opponents Andrey Rublev and Fabio Fognini in the previous rounds, seemed keen on making another quick start.
Sinner was forced to save a break point in two of his first three service games, but he held on in those moments, and neither man lost serve in the opening set. There were some encouraging passages of play from Kyrgios, including a flurry of volleys on one point, finishing the sequence with a stunning drop volley.
In the final game of the match, he also hit an impressive forehand volley on the stretch against his opponent who was approaching the net. But Sinner was the more consistent of the two players, especially with his baseline groundstrokes and went on to win 7-6(3), 6-3.
His easy power prevented Kyrgios from controlling the action and put pressure on him to make poor shot selection. "Today I raised a little bit my level," Sinner said in his on-court interview. "I had to, because he’s a very aggressive player, especially when he serves well. I’m very happy about my performance today." He will play either Frances Tiafoe or Argentine Francisco Cerundolo in the quarter-finals.
