Wimbledon: When Kyrgios deliberately tried to 'hit' Nadal

Rafael Nadal may have beaten his 'bete noire' Nick Kyrgios in a foul-tempered match, but not before taking a 'blow' or two from the Australian.

The 33-year-old Spaniard on Thursday won in four sets 6-3 3-6 7-6 (7/5) 7-6 (7/3) which saw the fiery Kyrgios get a warning for unsportsmanlike behaviour after a running argument with the umpire while twice serving under-arm.

After the match, during the press meet, Kyrgios admitted that he deliberately hit the ball at Nadal in the third set. He did not apologise during the game, and defended his action later.

“Why would I apologise?” he said when asked about the forehand that hit Nadal's racket handle. “I didn’t hit him. Hit his racket, no? Why would I apologise? I won the point. I mean, the dude has got how many slams, how much money in the bank? I think he can take a ball to the chest, bro.

“I’m not going to apologise to him at all. Yeah, I was going for him. Yeah, I wanted to hit him square in the chest.”

Nadal's pleasure was evident when he sealed the match against a man he had accused of lacking respect for the sport as he fist-pumped and jumped in the air yelling to his camp seated on Centre Court.

"I was aware of everything," said Nadal, who was winning his 50th match at Wimbledon, about Kyrgios's comment about the umpire.

"I was just next to him so I don't want to comment on this but potentially he is a Grand Slam winner."

Earlier, his great rival, eight-time champion Roger Federer had no such problems as he eased into the third round, beating British wild card Jay Clarke 6-1 7-6 (7/3) 6-2 to equal American legend Jimmy Connors's record of 17 appearances in the last 32.

Meanwhile, Kevin Anderson, the 2018 runner-up, was dumped out of Wimbledon, leaving just four of the top 10 seeds in the tournament. Anderson, whose season has been interrupted by an elbow injury, slumped to a shock third round 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) defeat to Argentina's Guido Pella, the 26th seed.

The South African's defeat means that only Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Kei Nishikori remain of the top 10 seeds who started out.

Pella goes on to face 2016 runner-up Milos Raonic for a place in the quarter-finals.

Federer and Nadal's half of the draw lost two of the potentially more awkward customers in big serving duo John Isner and Marin Cilic.

Ninth-seeded Isner, who played in the epic semifinal last year with Kevin Anderson which lasted over six hours, fell in five sets to unseeded Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin 6-4 6-7 (3/7) 4-6 6-1 6-4 in just over three hours of play.

Cilic, the 13th seed and finalist in 2017, lost in straight sets to Portugal's Joao Sousa, 6-4 6-4 6-4.

On the women's side, there will be a new name adorning the trophy as defending champion Angelique Kerber went out in three sets to lucky loser Lauren Davis 2-6 6-2 6-1. Kerber looked in control after the first set but once she went 3-2 down in the second Davis—ranked outside the top 250 earlier this year—gained in confidence.

There was a scare for seven-time champion Serena Williams, who dropped the first set against 18-year-old Slovenian qualifier Kaja Juvan before prevailing 2-6 6-2 6-4.

Ashleigh Barty's bid to become the first woman since Williams in 2015 to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year stayed on track with a 6-1 6-3 second round victory over Belgium's Alison van Uytvanck.

Barty, only the second Australian woman after Evonne Goolagong Cawley over 40 years ago to be number one in the world, said the most pleasure she has had in her new status is when she speaks to her niece back in Australia.

Barty's next opponent British wild card Harriet Dart, for her part, could not contain her excitement at playing the world number one.

Home fans' appetites were sated at the end of the day when Williams's mixed doubles partner and former world number one Andy Murray made a victorious return after 'life-changing hip surgery'.

The 32-year-old Scotsman and his French partner Pierre-Hugues Herbert gelled as the match went on winning in four sets over Marius Copil and Ugo Humbert, 4-6 6-1 6-4 6-0.

(With PTI inputs)