In front of a boisterous crowd on Court No. 1 at Wimbledon on Wednesday, Nick Kyrgios defeated Chilean Cristian Garin 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(5) to go to his first Grand Slam semifinal. Since Lleyton Hewitt made it to the final four at the US Open in 2005, the 27-year-old is the first Australian man to do it at a major.
After two hours and thirteen minutes, Kyrgios defeated Garin with his tremendous ball striking and outstanding touch from all over the court to claim the biggest victory of his season.
“Amazing vibe here once more. I simply never imagined that I would reach a Grand Slam semifinal. In his on-court interview, Kyrgios stated, “I believed that ship had sailed. “Earlier in my career, I didn’t handle things well, and I might have missed my window. I’m quite proud of how I returned to this place.
More Grass Wins (2022)
Player Win-Loss Statistics
12-2 for Nick Kyrgios
9-0 for Matteo Berrettini
8-2 Taylor Fritz
8-3 for Daniil Medvedev
8-3 for Stefanos Tsitsipas
8-1 Tim van Rijthoven
The third major quarterfinalist in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, and first since the 2015 Australian Open, will next play either second-seeded Rafael Nadal of Spain or American Taylor Fritz. Kyrgios has never faced Indian Wells champion Fritz, and he currently has a 3-6 ATP Head2Head series deficit over 22-time major champion Nadal.
In their first encounter, Garin got out to a quicker start than Kyrgios, swiftly settling into a rhythm from the baseline to take the lead. Kyrgios didn’t appear concerned, though, and quickly regained control of the set by stepping up his intensity after achieving confidence-boosting victories the previous week.
The Australian played aggressively from his forehand wing and serve while hitting his flat backhand with control. He fired 20 winners, including 10 aces in the first and second sets, to seize the initiative.
With momentum behind him, the 27-year-old withstood pressure in the third set as Garin began to use excellent footwork to dominate with the forehand. The Australian, who made his SW19 debut in 2014 but lost in the quarterfinals, saved all three break points he faced in the set before working some magic in the tie-break to come back from 3/5 and win. After his outstanding victory, the Australian fell to the ground.
Every single member of Kyrgios’ teams “plays a crucial role,” he noted. Nobody is more familiar with my tennis than I am. I’m pretty delighted to be in the Grand Slam semifinals.
With his victory, Kyrgios advances to the men’s semi-finals at Wimbledon for the first time without a seed since 2008, when Marat Safin, who is ranked 75th in the world, and Rainer Schuettler, who is rated 94th, both made it that far.
Kyrgios has a record of 12-2 on grass this year after reaching back-to-back semifinals in Halle and Stuttgart last month. In addition to defeating Filip Krajinovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas, the Australian defeated Paul Jubb and Brandon Nakashima in five sets.
The best outcome for Kyrgios at the Majors
Australian Open Quarterfinals (2015)
R3 Roland Garros (2015-16)
SF Wimbledon (2022)
U.S. Open R3 (2014, 2016, 2018-19)
The World No. 43 Garin, who overcame a two-set deficit to defeat Australian Alex de Minaur in a thrilling Wimbledon match, was playing in his first Grand Slam quarterfinal. The 26-year-old, who has five championships at the tour level, became the first Chilean man since Fernando Gonzalez at the 2009 US Open to advance to this stage of a major.
