Brisbane, Jan 2 (IANS): French tennis player Jeremy Chardy on Wednesday defeated Nick Kyrgios of Australia 6-7(5-7), 6-2, 6-3 to qualify for the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International.
It took Chardy an hour and 38 minutes to knock out the defending champion, whose loss will see him fall from the world No. 35 to No. 52, to be out of the world's top 50 for the first time in four years, reports Efe.
"It is tough to come back and play this level of tennis not really hitting and getting my iron from the back of the court at all," Kyrgios said.
"But, yeah, I am serving well. That is a positive. And to go three sets with a guy, Jeremy, barely practicing in the off-season, I take as a positive. So now I got to get to the practice court, hit a lot of balls and move into the Australian Open," he added.
Chardy next is set to take on Japan's Yasutaka Uchiyama, who beat Briton Kyle Edmund 7-6 (8-6), 6-4.