In an impressively professional performance, unseeded Albert Ramos-Vinolas defeats his younger, 24th seeded counterpart Nick Kyrgios by a score of 7-6, 7-5 in one hour and 51 minutes to reach the third round of the Indian Wells Masters.

Background

Prior to this match, Kyrgios had been involved in a controversy surrounding his Davis Cup withdarawal against team USA due to illness, with countreyman Bernard Tomic calling him out for being disingenuous

Given those events, it was interesting to see how Kyrgios would perform in this match to get a clearer idea on his alleged illness.

The 20-year-old led the head-to-head against Ramos-Vinolas series 2-0 heading into this match, with both wins coming last year.

Kyrgios Crumbles

The Australian dominated proceedings early on, winning his service games with ease while giving Ramos-Vinolas trouble with his return game. Though Kyrgios did not break the Spaniard’s serve in his first three attempts, he came close on several occasions, with the Barcelona native saving six break points in that span. Five of those came in Ramos’ third service game, during which Kyrgios appeared to start struggling physically.

Albert Ramos-Vinolas hits a backhand during his victory. Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images
Albert Ramos-Vinolas hits a backhand during his victory. Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images

Since then, his body language started changing dramatically. Kyrgios was regularly bending over; as if severely fatigued, and mumbling moans to himself.

Though he went on to hold his serve to get a 4-3 lead, The Aussie clearly wasn’t happy during the change-over, going on a rant that contained some vulgar language while repeatedly shouting “Unbelievable”. It was not clear what Kyrgios was referring to. This behavior was repeated throughout the rest of the set, forcing the commentators to apologize several times for his antics.

Kyrgios' supposed illness may explain him complaining audibly towards the end of the set, yelling “I feel like s***”.

Even though his big serve helped him force a tie-break, he clearly wasn’t the same player he was at the start of the match. After losing the first point of the tie-break on his serve, Kyrgios smacked the ball as hard as he could into the atmosphere, drawing a clamoring reaction from the crowd. Ramos-Vinolas went on the win the tie-break by seven points to four.

The set ended with just a two-point differential; Ramos-Vinolas with 46 points compared to Kyrgios' 44.

More Kyrgios, More Quarrel

The second set started in the same way the first set ended, with Kyrgios’ inconsistency & inappropriate behavior continuing to heavily influence matters on the court.

At 2-2 with Ramos-Vinolas serving, Kyrgios found himself up 15-40 with two break points in his grasp. The Australian then controversially received a code violation for using profanity toward a line umpire, resulting in a point awarded to the world number 49.

Nick Kyrgios during his loss. Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images
Nick Kyrgios during his loss. Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images

The Canberra native went on to lose the game after losing his cool yet again. He got into an extended argument with the chair umpire at the following change-over, denying his supposed indiscretion. It was not clear if Kyrgios did direct the word in question toward the line umpire, but he did undoubtedly use that language regularly throughout the match.

Despite Kyrgios’ mental shortcomings and his growing number of unforced errors, Ramos-Vinolas struggled to cope with the Aussie’s big serve. The Spaniard rarely came close to breaking his serve despite clearly having the edge, both mentally and physically.

That was until the twelfth game in the set, when Kyrgios’ inconsistency finally caught up to him. With Ramos-Vinolas leading 6-5, Kyrgios started the game by committing two straight double faults, giving the Spaniard a golden chance to finally execute an invaluable service break to effectively secure the set and the match.

The Spaniard happily obliged, finishing off the tie with the first break of serve in the entire match. He dominated many aspects of the game in this set, most notably winning 78% of his first serve points, compared to Kyrgios' 62%.

Analysis

Nick Kyrgios is often a tough player to comprehend. He is undeniably as talented as it gets; something he displayed in flashes throughout this match. On the other hand, his maturity levels are beyond appalling. Whether he truly was unwell today does not excuse the constant swearing and disrespect for the umpire, his opponent, the fans and the integrity of the sport.

Here is a video of his argument with the umpire.

People will talk about Kyrgios' antics, but what stands out here is Ramos-Vinolas' superb proffessionalism and calmness in handling a difficult situation and playing to the best of his abilities. He fully deserved to win this match.

Up Next

Albert Ramos-Vinolas will now face the 13th seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils in the third round. Monfils defeated Pablo Carreno Busta 7-5, 7-6 in his second round match.

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