Spanish top seed Rafael Nadal battled past rival Nick Kyrgios in a thrilling four-set match to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals.
Nadal, 33, had not dropped a set this tournament before 23rd seed Kyrgios provided his biggest test so far.
Kyrgios, who wore a Kobe Bryant basketball shirt in the warm-up, battled hard but Nadal came through 6-3 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-4).
Nadal will face Austrian fifth seed Dominic Thiem in the last eight.
“When Nick is playing like he did today with this positive attitude he brings a lot of things to our sport,” said Nadal, who won his only Australian Open title in 2009.
“I encourage him to keep working like this because he is one of the biggest talents of our tour.”
Nadal came into the match having not dropped a set in the opening three rounds, sealing his place in the last 16 with his “best match so far” against fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta.
Kyrgios’ route was much more strenuous, having needed four-and-a-half hours to beat Russian 16th seed Karen Khachanov on Saturday night.
“Nick played a good game but I played a scary game at 5-4,” Nadal said.
“But I tried to recover mentally and lift my level again.”
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