Kyrgios crashes out of Miami Open

Nick Kyrgios has failed to match his semi-final run from last year, falling to German Alexander Zverev in the fourth round of the Miami Open.

Nick Kyrgios

Nick Kyrgios was below his best in his straight-sets defeat to Alexander Zverev in Miami. (AAP)

Nick Kyrgios will tumble out of the world's top 20 after failing to defend big rankings points at the Miami Open.

Kyrgios suffered a 6-4 6-4 fourth-round loss to Alexander Zverev, a year after losing a pulsating semi-final to Roger Federer in one of the matches of 2017.

It was his second straight loss to Zverev, having fallen to the German in Australia's Davis Cup defeat in Brisbane in February.

Kyrgios made a subdued start to the match, seeming to be struggling with back discomfort early as he dropped five of the first six games.

But he roared to life to make Zverev serve out the opening set at his second time of asking.

A loose service game at 2-2 in the second, after he was broken from 40-15 up, left Kyrgios cursing himself - and there was no way back as the world No.5 booked a quarter-final date with Borna Coric.

The Croatian edged Denis Shapovalov 7-6 (7-2) 4-6 6-4 in their battle of the young guns.

American John Isner upset second-seeded Croatian Marin Cilic 7-6 (7-0) 6-3 to book a meeting with South Korean Hyeon Chung, a 6-4 6-3 winner over Portugal's Joao Sousa.

Argentine fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro defeated Filip Krajinovic 6-4 6-2 for his 14th consecutive victory.

The Serbian Krajinovic jumped out to an early lead in the first set when he managed a rare break of Del Potro's serve and then held to take a 4-1 advantage in the pair's first career meeting.

But Del Potro battled back, winning a marathon 10-minute game to take the first set before overpowering Krajinovic in the second to push his record to a career best 20-3 to start the year.

Milos Raonic's serve was again too much for France's Jeremy Chardy to handle as the Canadian cruised to a 6-3 6-4 win.

Raonic, who has now won all seven of the pair's matches, will face Del Potro in a rematch of their semi-final contest in Indian Wells, which the Argentine won en route to his first Masters 1000 title.

Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta crushed compatriot Fernando Verdasco 6-0 6-3 to reach the second Masters 1000 quarter-final of his career.

He will face Kevin Anderson after the sixth-seeded South African defeated Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (6-3) 6-4 in their round of 16 meeting.

The 20-year-old American was backing up after he completed his rain-interrupted 6-7 (2-7) 6-2 7-6 (7-1) third-round win over Tomas Berdych earlier in the day.


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Source: AAP


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