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Nick Kyrgios has had to deal with helicopters, YouTube pranksters and malfunctioning technology, but his biggest challenge yet at the Australian Open is entertainer Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 7pm (AEDT).
Kyrgios has played his opening two matches on Hisense Arena, but there was plenty of frustration on Wednesday night as he overcame Viktor Troicki.
From a ‘fan’ yelling out before he served, to helicopters hovering over the court and the umpire’s microphone refusing to work as the arena’s audio system gave out, it was a difficult match.
In the past, incidents like that would have knocked the Canberran out of the tournament, but as we have seen over the last 12 months, this a new Kyrgios.
We saw it at the Davis Cup and again to start the season at the Brisbane International, when he came back from a set down three times on a dodgy knee to make the final, where he belted Ryan Harrison in straight sets.
This will be tougher than either of his first two matches though, after Kyrgios recorded another straight-sets win over Rogerio Dutra Silva in the first round.
Tsonga is not going to be a pushover. The 32-year-old Frenchman has been professional since 2004 and spent a large chunk of that time in the top 20 of the world rankings. He is an excitement machine who made the final of the Australian Open in 2008 on a dream run and while he has never been back to those heights, this will be one of the matches of the tournament.
Recovery will be the key question for Tsonga though. While his first-round win over Kevin King came in straight sets, he was taken to five sets by Canadian Denis Shapovalov on Wednesday.
At one point, Tsonga found himself down two sets to one, before having to win the fourth set in a-tie breaker. It took a long time to put the talented Canadian away as well, the match being stretched to 7-5 in the final set.
The pair have only had one previous meeting, with Tsonga winning in Marseille. The winner will face either Grigor Dimitrov or Andrey Rublev in the fourth round.
Prediction
Kyrgios is in fine form and his serve is a huge weapon – one that Tsonga probably won’t be able to counter. Tsonga is one of the Aussie’s idols, but Kyrgios should win this.
Kyrgios in five sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of this highly anticipated clash from 7pm (AEDT) and don’t forget to add a comment below.