The result means Medvedev will cede his place at the top of the world rankings at the end of the tournament, while Kyrgios will enter his first US Open quarter-final when he faces another Russian playing under a neutral flag, Karen Khachanov. tuesday.
Medvedev later said he struggled physically on the court, but added that Kyrgios overpowered him in the final two sets.
“Today I felt a little sick,” he told reporters after the game. “The thing is, in the States, I get sick once on the swing because the air conditioning (air conditioning) is just crazy. Last year it happened in Cincinnati.”
“I felt my throat a bit today… At the same time, that’s no excuse at all because Nick played well.”
It was the fourth time Kyrgios had beaten Medvedev in five meetings and the second time in as many months after winning in Montreal.
The Australian saved several set points in a close tie-break in the first set – the first set Medvedev had lost in the tournament – before falling behind in the second set when he lost serve twice .
Medvedev leveled the game, but the momentum swung in Kyrgios’ favor when he won five straight points on Medvedev’s serve in the fourth game of the third set.
The 23rd seed always looked the favorite to win the match from then on, breaking twice in the fourth set to seal victory in nearly three hours. He finished the encounter with 53 winners, including 21 aces.
“I just thought I played well,” Kyrgios told reporters. “I came back amazing today. I thought the third and fourth sets were so free. I had a lot of fun, enjoying every moment on Ashe (Arthur Ashe Stadium) today. Really proud of that.”
“I feel like I’m more just proud of how I bounced back after all, honestly,” he said. “I’ve been in really tough situations mentally and really scary places.
“Obviously if you look at it on paper I probably didn’t expect to win that. Maybe take a set or two if I’m lucky…I just sit there in the locker room afterwards and I I’m just super proud of the performance because there really was a point where I didn’t think I was able to produce and do that anymore.”
