Australia, Russia storm into ATP Cup semi-finals
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E-mail Xinhua, January 10, 2020
Day seven action of the inaugural ATP Cup tennis tournament in Sydney had everything from tantrums, super tiebreaks and underarm serves, as Australia and Russia both made it through to the semi-final stage.
While up-and-coming local star Alex de Minaur went down in a closely fought contest with Britain's Daniel Evans 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, his counterpart Nick Kyrgios breezed past Cameron Norrie in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 -- even dishing out his trademark underarm serve to the laughter of fans.
With the scores locked at 1-1, Kyrgios and de Minaur paired up in the doubles to edge past Jamie Murray and Joe Salisbury 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (19-17) in a nail-biting super tiebreak victory.
"I've played some epic matches in my career so I know the more level-headed you are in those moments, you can think clearly," Kyrgios told reporters after the match.
"There was so much going on that I just tried to stay in the moment."
"It was such an epic match that I was just always thinking of the next point. The stars aligned in that doubles for us."
In the other quarter-final match-ups of the all-mens, 24-nation round robin tournament on Thursday evening, Russia demolished Argentina 3-0.
Karen Khachanov defeated Guido Pella 6-2, 7-6, Daniil Medvedev overcame Diego Schwartzman 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, while Teymuraz Gabashvili/Konstantin Kravchuk were too strong for Maximo Gonzalez/Andres Molteni, winning the contest in straight sets, 7-6, 6-4.
Russia's progression was somewhat marred however, with world number five Medvedev receiving two code violations after arguing with his opponent and then smashing his racket against the umpire's chair when cautioned.
Despite the controversy, Medvedev downplayed the ugly incident after the match.
"I didn't have anything near me to hit other than the chair," he explained.
"The second code violation for sure was deserved, so I don't argue."
"In fact, why I got the second one was because I was arguing with the first one because I didn't hear it."
Quarter-final action on day eight will continue on Friday with Serbia taking on Canada and Spain up against Belgium.
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