Australian
tennis player Nick Kyrgios gifted his racket to a young fan after
accidentally hitting him during his doubles quarterfinal match at the Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Tuesday. The chair umpire also checked on the boy’s condition.

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Cheer
up by a capacity crowd of 5,000 spectators, Kyrgios and fellow Australian Thanasi
Kokkinakis — the team dubbed the Special Ks — beat another seeded pair to
advance to the semifinals.

After
entering on a wild card, the pair has made Melbourne Park’s new stadium their
own cauldron. On Tuesday, they fired a combined 25 aces to beat the
sixth-seeded team of Tim Puetz and Michael Venus 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.

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“I’m
not finished. I want to win this,” Kyrgios told the crowd. “Unreal scenes. When
we were young growing up, this (Melbourne Park) is where we started.”

It
was the third successive victory of the pair against seeded teams. After
Tuesday’s win, Kokkinakis suggested to Australian Open organisers that their
next match be scheduled on the same court where spectators can watch matches
for the cost of a ground pass rather than a stadium ticket.

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“When
we walk through the tunnel (onto court), there’s no feeling like it. We don’t
want to be anywhere else, this is perfect,” he said. “Hopefully, Craig is
watching and puts us out on this court.”

With
Kokkinakis serving in the fourth game, Kyrgios swatted a loose ball into the
court surface and the ball bounced four rows into the stand and struck a young
boy in the chest.

Also Read: Body is wearing down: Tennis star Sania Mirza to retire after 2022 season

As
the shocked young fan was comforted by his mother, umpire Eva
Asderaki-Moore left her chair to check that he was not injured. Kyrgios then
opened the zip of his bag, picked up a racket and handed it up to the boy.

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Kyrgios
and Kokkinakis are attracting a lot of attention. So much that the host TV
broadcaster regularly crossed from coverage of the Rafael Nadal versus Denis
Shapovalov quarterfinal in the main stadium to check on the progress of this
doubles match.