Melbourne: Now he's no longer just the kid who upset Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon, he's also the teenager who beat the guy who beat Roger Federer at the Australian Open.
Nick Kyrgios came back from two sets down and saved a match point to beat Andreas Seppi 5-7, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 8-6 on Sunday night, becoming the first Aussie to reach the last eight in Melbourne Park men's draw since 2005, and the first male teenager since Federer to reach two Grand Slam quarterfinals.
His first words to a packed Hisense Arena, where the crowd yelled and screamed like football fans: "Thanks mate. Feels so good."
Seppi beat Federer in the third round - the 17-time Grand Slam winner's earliest exit in Melbourne in 14 years - and was on course to reach the quarter-finals for the first time in 40 majors.
But 19-year-old Kyrgios had experience in coming back from 0-2 - he did that at Wimbledon, where he also upset then No. 1-ranked Nadal en route to the quarters.
"I know that he had a lot of confidence, obviously, beating Roger," Kyrgios said. "Drawing all my experience from Wimbledon, coming back from two sets down, I knew I had the legs to do that."
Kyrgios will face the winner of the later fourth-round match between three-time Australian Open finalist Andy Murray and No. 10-seeded Grigor Dimitrov.
Nadal and Maria Sharapova put earlier stumbles behind them with convincing wins to reach the quarter-finals.
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