Fiery Kyrgios storms through to Queen’s Club quarters
Related Story: Erratic Kyrgios beats two-time Wimbledon champ Murray in Queen's Club opener
Nick Kyrgios has continued his impressive grass court form with a fine victory over Kyle Edmund to secure a quarter-final place at Queen's Club in London.
But the mercurial Australian number one insisted afterwards he was unfazed that the BBC, who were showing the game live in the UK, had to apologise for his bad language during the win.
Kyrgios, who beat two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray in the previous round, dispatched Murray's fellow Brit Edmund 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (5/7), 6-3 with a powerful display of stunning, sometimes outrageous groundstrokes, punctuated with some lethal serving, bombing down 32 aces.
But as he battled to see out the match in the decider, he was heard swearing at his player's box in frustration at missing a match point.
Told the BBC had to apologise on air for his language, the Australian said: "Fine. I don't care."
He then asked a reporter who pressed him on the outburst:
"Do you swear? No, do you swear? Yes or no? Yes or no? Do you swear? Do you swear? Okay, great. Good question."
Kyrgios, who lost to world number one Roger Federer in a tight semi-final at the Stuttgart Open last week, had won his only previous ATP World tour meeting with Edmund at the 2014 Nottingham Challenger event.
External Link: Tennis TV tweet: no he didn't. The audacity! Only @NickKyrgios #QueensTennis
But the 23-year-old knew he would face a real battle to prevent the seventh seed reaching the last eight for the second time in three years.
Kyrgios got off to the best possible start when he grabbed the first set on a tiebreak, nailing his advantage with a rasping two-handed backhand bang on 40 minutes.
The second set was again dominated by serve although British number one Edmund banked three points off Kyrgios' serve in the second tiebreak to draw level.
However, Kyrgios broke Edmund early in the decider and despite some wayward shots which saw him lose his temper at his box, he was able to see out the victory in two hours, 11 minutes.
"It was a pretty high-level match from both players," said Kyrgios, who faced only one break point on his serve.
"Obviously I served really, really well. I found my rhythm quite early.
"I feel pretty good. I got a bit tight towards the end of the match, which is normal. I haven't played a lot of matches in the last couple of months.
"So, I mean, when I'm serving out a match, we have been playing for a couple of hours and level has been pretty good, I got pretty tight.
"I'm feeling pretty relaxed and 32 aces helps."
Kyrgios will next face defending champion Feliciano Lopez in Friday's quarter-finals.
The Spaniard walked through to the last eight after Milos Raonic pulled out with a right shoulder injury despite winning his first round match on Tuesday.
Unseeded 12-time grand slam champion Novak Djokovic made sure he reached the quarter-finals as he hammered second-seeded Grigor Dimitrov, his first victory over a top-10 opponent since last May.
Djokovic will meet Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, who overcame compatriot Julien Benneteau 7-6 (7/4), 6-3.
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