Rafael Nadal played two brilliant tiebreaks to wrap up a big victory against Kyrgios on Centre Court last night.

In their seventh meeting the Spaniard recorded his fourth victory against Kyrgios and first at a Grand Slam. The number two seed avoided an exit before the third round for a fourth time in his career, though many saw this as a tough test.

There was a heated build up to the match after comments made by Kyrgios earlier this year, calling Nadal ‘super salty’. Following this there was little eye contact between the two as they walked out onto court together, with both of them looking focused.

Kyrgios started the match slow however. The 24 year old Aussie was broken in his first service game and was quickly arguing with the umpire about how long his Mallorcan opponent was taking between service points.

Nadal held onto the break of serve the whole was though the first set, against a frustrated Kyrgios. The man from Canberra did however wow the crowd when he pulled out his trademark underarm serve to hold at 5-3. But Nadal served the set out 6-3 to take an early advantage.

After more heated discussions  with umpire Damien Dumusois, the Aussie branded him a ‘nobody’ and a ‘disgrace’. This potentially fired him up however, and brilliant cross court passing shot helped him to a 3-0 lead in the second. However after a couple of lazy shots from Kyrgios it was back to 4-3 on serve.

Further moaning from the 43rd ranked player saw him received a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct. But again this seemed to add fire to his belly as he sent looping forehands deep into Nadal’s court eventually forcing Nadal to hit into the net and restore his break. The charismatic Australian served the set out 6-3.

A more relaxed Kyrgios came out for the third set, Despite putting the Nadal serve under pressure a few times, both men comfortably held serve to force a tiebreak.

Prior to the meeting Nadal had never won a tiebreak against Kyrgios, but an early mini-break from a down the line forehand winner put Nadal in the driving seat. Despite a couple of quality winners of his own, Kyrgios stayed behind the whole tiebreak, losing it 7-5 giving Nadal the two sets to one lead.

The fourth set was another one of serving brilliance. Following example from the previous set, neither man faced a break point. This set however also saw neither server even face a deuce.

It was the two time Wimbledon champion who was victorious again in the tie break, taking an early mini-break after Kyrgios sent a seemingly simple smash volley into the net. Rafa held serve from here and after a long forehand unforced error from his opponent, and a backhand into the net, Nadal was the winner.

Despite a somewhat childish start to the match from Kyrgios, he eventually gave a professional account of himself, and provided stiff opposition for the the bookies’ third favourite to win the title.

Next up for Nadal is is Jo Wilfried Tsonga who defeated unseed Lithuanian Richard Berankis in straight sets. Nadal holds an 8-4 record against the Frenchman but did lose their last encounter in Shanghai four years ago.