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 deduction for hitting the ball in frustration towards the back of the court after a Kyrgios underarm serve.
The fourth seed then fell 0-40 on his serve at the beginning of the fourth set only to recover and win the game.
Tsitsipas saved more break points in the seventh game and appeared to be on the brink of a crucial break in the following game but Kyrgios served his way out of trouble to level at 4-4.
Play was then suspended for the roof to be closed.
The fourth set went to a nervy tie-break.
Tsitsipas had set points to draw level in the match but it was Kyrgios who came out on top, taking it 9-7.
AFP
