Monday 6 July 2015 22:11, UK
Richard Gasquet avenged last year's Wimbledon defeat to Nick Kyrgios as the French 21st seed moved into the quarter-finals with a 7-5 6-1 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (8-6) victory over the controversial Australian.
And Kyrgios lived up to his reputation as the new bad boy of men's tennis by appearing to 'tank' one Gasquet service game in the second set, walking in the opposite direction to the Frenchman's serve on one point and gently tapping the return into the net with the next.
Gasquet had wasted nine match points while squandering a two-set lead in a second round defeat to Kyrgios 12 months ago. But the 29-year-old made amends on Court Two with a powerful display against the 26th seed, who helped the Frenchman by appearing to give up on several points in the second set.
Gasquet, who made the semi-finals in 2007, will play French Open champion Stan Wawrinka or Belgian 16th seed David Goffin for a place in the last four.
Kyrgios had earned a reputation for his disruptive behaviour during the first week of the tournament as he argued with umpires, shouting out 'dirty scum' during one row, bounced a racket into the crowd, and claimed he didn't care if he was fined or how people viewed his antics.
The brash 20-year-old looked in the groove when he broke in the opening game of the match, but Gasquet was unfazed, hitting back in the fourth game and going on to take the set with his second break.
After being at the wrong end of a sublime Gasquet backhand, the 20-year-old Kyrgios blurted out that he "might as well just leave now", it signalled one of the volatile Australian's infamous mood swings, with Gasquet quick to punish the lack of focus.
He broke in the second game of the second set and Kyrgios responded petulantly - appearing to 'tank' in the next game, appearing to deliberately lose those two points.
Kyrgios broke early in the third set, only to let Gasquet off the hook when he dropped serve soon after - reacting to that failure in typically eccentric style by hugging a ball-boy.
After saving two match points at 5-6, Kyrgios made the most of his escape to take the tie-break.
But Gasquet kept plugging away and finally saw off the Australian in the fourth set tie-break.
Five-set thriller
Andy Murray beat Ivo Karlovic in the fourth round to set up a meeting with Vasek Pospisil for a place in the semi-finals.
Unseeded Pospisil became only the third Canadian man to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals on Monday with a 4-6 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-3 6-3 win over Serbia's Viktor Troicki.
The world No 56 won his third five-set match in four rounds. Pospisil follows Robert Powell (1908, 1910 and 1912) and Milos Raonic (2014) as the only Canadian men to have reached the last eight at the All England Club.
