Madrid, Spain (SportsNetwork.com) - Rising Aussie star Nick Kyrgios stunned top-seeded Roger Federer in a marathon second-round match, while two-time defending and four-time overall champion Rafael Nadal was an easy winner Wednesday at the clay-court Madrid Open.
The 20-year-old Aussie Kyrgios saved two match points in the third-set tiebreak in order to oust the former world No. 1 great Federer 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (14-12) in 2 hours, 37 minutes. Federer saved five match points to make Kyrgios sweat out the victory.
Kyrgios swatted 22 aces in a 38-ace affair that featured only four service breaks in 39 games at the Magic Box. This marked the second Top-10 victory for the young gun Kyrgios, the youngest player in the men's Top 50.
The 33-year-old Federer headed to Madrid fresh off his title in Istanbul. The 17-time Grand Slam champion won the Madrid title in 2009 and 2012. He also won in 2006 when the tournament was played in the fall on hardcourts, and last played at the Magic Box in 2013, falling to Kei Nishikori in the round of 16.
Meanwhile, after enjoying an opening-round bye, the third-seeded former world No. 1 Nadal eased past American two-time NCAA singles champion Steve Johnson 6-4, 6-3 at this Masters 1000 event.
"I went out there to do a simple game with no complications," said Nadal. "I tried to play easily. I know how things work out when you come from losing a couple of matches. I know that you're a little bit nervous whenever you finish a game, as I finished the other day with [Fabio] Fognini in Barcelona.
"I tried to start from the bottom and just go up. I think, especially the last three games, I finished pretty well. I managed to do a couple more things with my backhand."
Nadal captured a second straight Madrid title last year by beating Nishikori in the final.
Up next for the nine-time French Open king will be Simone Bolelli, who overcame fellow Italian Luca Vanni 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 on Day 4.
In other action involving Top-10 seeds, No. 6 Czech and 2012 runner-up Tomas Berdych topped last week's Estoril champion Richard Gasquet of France 7-6 (7-3), 7-5; No. 7 David Ferrer took care of fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-4, 6-0; Spain's Fernando Verdasco ousted No. 9 U.S. Open champ Marin Cilic of Croatia 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3; and No. 10 Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov came from behind to defeat Italian Fabio Fognini 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.
Also on Wednesday, Argentine Leonardo Mayer erased 11th-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (8-6); 12th-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga outlasted game American Jack Sock 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (7-4); Spain's Marcel Granollers took out 13th-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (7-9), 6-4; 14th-seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut dismissed American Sam Querrey 7-5, 6-4; and 16th-seeded American John Isner held off Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (11-13), 6-1.
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