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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Andy Dunn

Nick Kyrgios into Wimbledon semi-finals with straight-sets win over Cristian Garin

Nick Kyrgios booked a Wimbledon semi-final place with a straight sets demolition of Cristian Garin.

It is the first time the controversial Australian has reached the last four of a Grand Slam tournament in his career.

And 27-year-old Kyrgios - already fined twice at these Championships - also managed to avoid getting into any serious trouble with the officials as he breezed past the unseeded Chilean.

He even obeyed the all-white dress code in a 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 victory that was only really in doubt for the opening few minutes.

Although the umpire had called play, Kyrgios clearly thought he was still in the warm-up as Garin helped himself to the opening nine points of the first set to establish a two-game lead.

But that was about as good as it got for the Chilean, although he battled manfully until the tenth game when his forehand went to pieces and Kyrgios capitalised.

It was also a first set in which Kyrgios only appeared to swear a couple of times and both of those colourful remarks were aimed at his long-suffering entourage.

Bizarrely, he even seemed to want his cornermen and women to stand up after every point. Odd.

But, by his own abysmal standards, Kyrgios was on reasonable behaviour and actually seemed to take a little more time than usual to compose himself between points - two nano-seconds rather than one.

His people in the stands were still getting their fair share of pelters, though, as Kyrgios took the second set with some degree of comfort.

Kyrgios showed a rare display of emotion after his win (Phil Harris / Daily Mirror)

Garin put up some stern resistance in the third set but missed a series of break points and the Kyrgios power proved too much in the tie-break.

While his journey to the semi-final stages has been accompanied by controversy every step of the way - both on and off the court - it has gone relatively unnoticed that the form of Kyrgios has been improving all the time.

Despite the circus that follows him around, Kyrgios must now seriously fancy his chances of winning a first Grand Slam.

With this match lasting only a little over two hours and with a two-day break ahead of the semi-final, Kyrgios will certainly be fresh for the challenge.

And on this evidence, you would not back against the most divisive character in tennis going all the way.

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