Andy Murray vs Nick Kyrgios promises to be a humdinger of a quarterfinal match at the Australian Open on Tuesday.
Murray has looked pretty good in his four rounds in Melbourne so far, dropping just one set in the tournament, with that coming in the tough fourth round match against the talented Grigor Dimitrov.
That match against Dimitrov looked destined for a fifth set with the Bulgarian up a break in the final stages of the fourth set and serving to take it to the decider, only for Murray to somehow find his groove and stage a brilliant comeback and seal a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-5 win.
"I thought I played well," said Murray after his win over Dimitrov. "I thought he started the match extremely well. He came out very aggressive, very explosive. But, it's tough to keep that sort of level of intensity up.
"And then, once I got myself into the match, I felt like I was able to dictate a lot of the points. I thought tactically I played a good match. I was disappointed with the 6-5 game I played in the second set.
"Also the tiebreak I made a few bad decisions. Third set was good. And fourth set, I just fought hard at the end and he played a loose game when he served for the set. That was it."
Having gone long into the night with that match, Murray will hope for a more peaceful outing against Kyrgios, even if he knows full well the reception that awaits at the Rod Laver Arena.
"Obviously the crowd will be right behind him," added Murray. "Understandably so. They're going to watch him play a lot of matches like this over the next 10, 15 years probably. And, yeah, that's just something that I'll have to deal with in my way.
"I've played a lot of matches. I've played in French Open against French players where the crowd can be very difficult. I've experienced it before, so hopefully I'll deal with it well."
Kyrgios had to come from the brink, save a few match points, before sealing his place in the quarterfinals against Murray. The Aussie looked dead and buried against Andreas Seppi, the man who knocked out Roger Federer, losing the first two sets, but he somehow found a way in the final three to eventually prevail 8-6 in the final set.
The 19-year-old, who shot to fame with a brilliant win over Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon last year, will take a lot of confidence from that fightback against Seppi, but it will be that performance against the Spaniard he will look to as he attempts another major upset.
"I think he's one of the greatest athletes on the tour," Kyrgios said of Murray. "He's going to make me play a lot of balls."
Kyrgios' major weapon is his serve, but he will come up against one of the best returners in the game, and the man who wins that particular battle will probably get himself ready for an Australian Open semifinal.
Where to Watch Live
The big quarterfinal of the Australian Open is scheduled for a 7 pm local time (1.30 pm IST, 8 am GMT, 3 am ET) start with live coverage in India on Sony Six. The match can also be watched by viewers in India via live streaming online on Livsports.in.
Viewers in the can catch Murray in action on BBC, with the option to live stream on BBC IPlayer.
International viewers, including the US, can live stream the match on the Australian Open Website.
