No stopping Nick – Kyrgios rifles past de Minaur in Montreal

Make it nine straight wins and 15 of 16 for Australia’s Nick Kyrgios, who moved into the last eight of the Montreal Masters by winning against Alex De Minaur 6-2, 6-3 at Stade IGA on Thursday night.

Kyrgios, ranked No 37, will face Pole Hubert Hurkacz, the No 8 seed, next.

It has been a torrid summer for the 27-year-old Aussie, who reached the Wimbledon final in July and won the Citi Open title in Washington, D.C. on Sunday. He improves to 30-7 on the season after dismissing his compatriot in a cool 63 minutes.

Nerves were a factor ahead of facing De Minaur

“Incredibly tough after yesterday’s big high,” Kyrgios said. “Today it was really hard mentally for me to go out here and play Alex – we’re such good friends. I just got out here and got the job done.”

Kyrfios said he was feeling sick all day due to nerves, ahead of the match.

“It was extremely tough. Felt pretty sick all day, pretty nervous,” he said. “Obviously it’s not easy going up against one of your good friends and fellow countrymen. I mean, he’s been flying the Australian flag for the last couple years, the No. 1 ranked spot.

“I knew that he was super confident. Obviously he won Atlanta. He’s been having so much success as well. I knew it was going to be an incredibly tough match.”

Feeling confident in his form, and his aura

After his win Kyrgios was asked if he felt that his recent success might be getting into the head of his opponents and making them doubt. Here is how he responded:

“I think some of the opponents I faced may have been feeling that a little bit over the last couple weeks,” he said. “I feel like I’ve been a good player for the majority of my career. I’ve earned that respect in the locker room. People know what I’m capable of if I’m motivated.

“Now I feel like I’m just playing good tennis. I’m just competing. I feel good physically, mentally. So I just need to keep it going.”

In the previous rounds of the Coupe Rogers, Nick Kyrgios beat Argentinian Sebastian Baez (6-4, 6-4) and Russian Daniil Medvedev, the top seed (6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-2).

De Minaur, ranked No 21, defeated Canadian Denis Shapovalov (7-5, 7-6 (4)) and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the No 15 seed (7-6 (4), 7-5) earlier in the tournament.

Montreal Masters 1000, other last 16 results (Stade IGA, hard, USD 6.573.785, most recent results first):

• Jannik Sinner vs. Pablo Carreno Busta
• Marin Čilić vs. Tommy Paul
• Gael Monfils vs. Jack Draper
• Daniel Evans vs. Taylor Fritz: thursday
• Felix Auger-Aliassime (6) beat Cameron Norrie (9): 6-3, 6-4
• Hubert Hurkacz beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas: 6-7 (6), 6-2, 7-6 (3)
• Casper Ruud (4) beat Roberto Bautista Agut (14): 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-4

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