Kyrgios wins bad-tempered Wimbledon clash with Tsitsipas

The mercurial Australian prevailed 6-7 (2/7), 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (9/7) in a third-round match during which both players were warned by the umpire.

After sealing his victory in a gripping fourth-set tie-break, Kyrgios said: "The media loves to write that I'm bad to the sport, but I'm clearly not.

"Whatever happens on court, stays on the court. I'm very close to his brothers.

"I felt like I was the favourite. I beat him a few weeks ago and he's only beaten me once. He got frustrated, it's a frustrating sport. Whatever happens, I love him."

There was little hint of the drama to come when Greek fourth seed Tsitsipas took the first set after a tie-break.

But the match descended into mayhem when a frustrated Tsitsipas hit the ball into the crowd after losing the second set, for which he received a warning.

Kyrgios said Tsitsipas should be kicked out of Wimbledon, recalling the incident at the US Open in 2020 when Novak Djokovic was defaulted from the tournament after hitting a line judge with a ball.

In astonishing scenes, the Australian called the umpire a "disgrace", demanding to speak to supervisors and saying he would not continue until the situation was resolved.

"You can't hit a ball into the crowd and hit someone and not get defaulted," he said.

At that point Tsitsipas left the court but returned to boos in an increasingly volatile atmosphere on Court One.

The Australian, who was given an obscenity warning, continued to argue with the umpire at changeovers, saying, in reference to the incident: "If that's a little girl, she cries, what happens?"

Kyrgios, now on top against a clearly rattled Tsitsipas, broke in the fourth game of the third set and held on to take a 2-1 lead.

Tsitsipas was given another code violation and a point