Kyrgios outlasts Zverev in quality quarterfinal

Australian Nick Kyrgios is into the Miami Open semifinals for a second consecutive year.

The No.12 seed fired 16 aces and didn’t face a break point in a hard-fought 6-4 6-7(9) 6-3 victory over No.16 seed Alexander Zverev.

The German saved three match points in a tense second-set tiebreak in his first ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal appearance, before Kyrgios steadied and scored a cruical break in the six game of the final set to run out victorious in a two-hour, 33-minute match.

When one tweener is simply not enough!#MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/fK3RgvKwhP

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 30, 2017

Is this real life?

So many amazing points to watch! Tune in to watch more unreal tennis https://t.co/kRsZ9uv0ca#MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/ZnKdegsniV

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 31, 2017

Two and a half hours later… the show must end.@NickKyrgios into his second straight #MiamiOpen semi-final. pic.twitter.com/ch4QT7Dmgl

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 31, 2017

The high-quality match had the crowd on the edge of their seats, with many of the world’s best players tweeting their astonishment.

Woot woot ???????????????? @NickKyrgios #wishihadthatserve ????

— Sania Mirza (@MirzaSania) March 31, 2017

That match was A1. #Kyrgios #zverev ????????????

— NaomiOsaka????? (@Naomi_Osaka_) March 31, 2017

Kyrgios now plays 18-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer in tomorrow’s semifinals.

“I’m just excited to go out there tomorrow and give it my best shot,” Kyrgios said. “If it’s good enough, it’s good enough; if it’s not, it’s not.”

Kyrgios won his only previous meeting against Federer in Madrid 2015, saving match points in a three-set victory. They were scheduled to play in Indian Wells earlier this month, but food poisoning forced Kyrgios to forfeit the quarterfinal match.

“Obviously he’s the greatest player of all-time, but the way that he takes time away from players, that’s his strength. He likes to play his pace of tennis. He likes to take away time and play aggressive,” Kyrgios said of the Swiss champion.

“He obviously likes to play really aggressive on return. Likes to get through his service games very quick. Serve and volley. I know what’s going to be coming. I’ve played him before. In saying that, he’s playing incredible at the moment. He’s had a great year. Obviously coming back from injury last year and winning the Australian Open, winning Indian Wells, he obviously looks very healthy and is moving very, very good.

“I’m not going to think about it too much at the moment. I got a whole day ahead of me where I can sort of just relax. I’m going to not do anything big. I’m going to serve big and play big. That’s my gamestyle that I’ve had success with, so that’s what I’m going to bring.”