Australian Open: Kei Nishikori through after five-set win over Pablo Carreno Busta
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Carreno Busta left the court screaming at the umpire after feeling the point at 8-5, when his shot was erroneously called out, should have been replayed
Australian Open 2019 |
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Venue: Melbourne Park Dates: 14-27 January |
Coverage: Daily live commentaries on the BBC Sport website, listen to Tennis Breakfast daily from 07:00 GMT on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and watch highlights on BBC TV and online. |
Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta apologised for an on-court outburst following his epic 6-7 (8-10) 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 7-6 (10-8) defeat by Kei Nishikori in the fourth round of the Australian Open.
Carreno Busta screamed at the umpire and threw his bag as he left the arena at the end of the match.
The number 23 seed felt the super tie-break point at 8-5, when his shot was erroneously called out just as Nishikori struck what proved to be a clean winner, should have been replayed.
"Obviously I'm very sad because after five hours fighting, the way that I leave from the court wasn't correct, and I'm so sorry because that's not me," the 27-year-old said.
"It's tough for me to leave the Australian Open like this, because I think I played an unbelievable match. Also Kei, he played really good."
Nishikori's victory gives the Japanese eighth seed a quarter-final tie against world number one Novak Djokovic, who beat Daniil Medvedev.
The marathon match lasted five hours and five minutes, with Nishikori coming from 8-5 down in the super tie-break to reel off five successive points for victory.
Nishikori, 29, had already spent eight hours and 42 minutes on court in his first three matches, including a second-round clash that went all the way to a final-set tie-break against Ivo Karlovic.
"I feel it's not enough," he joked of his total of 13 hours and 47 minutes on court in the first four rounds. "It's not easy of course. I will try to recover well on Tuesday."
Nishikori warmed up for the Australian Open by winning the title at Brisbane and has now reached the quarter-finals for the fourth time in Melbourne without ever going further.