Nick Kyrgios vs Grigor Dimitrov live stream
Aug 10, 2017; Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Nick Kyrgios of Australia hits a backhand against Alexander Zverev of Germany (not pictured) during the Rogers Cup tennis tournament at Uniprix Stadium. USA TODAY Sports / Eric Bolte

World No. 17 Nick Kyrgios marched into Round of 32 of the 2018 Australian Open on Wednesday with a hard-fought 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) victory over Serbian Viktor Troicki. With the victory, Kyrgios set up a mouth-watering third-round contest against World No. 15 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

After the victory, Kyrgios called Tsonga "one of his idols" and spoke of his excitement going into Friday's match. "He's got the fire in the arms. I think it's going to be a good match. Everybody knows what he will try to do, what I will try to do. I'm looking forward to it, he's one of my idols."

Earlier in the day, Tsonga fought back from 5-2 down in the fifth set to beat Canadian prodigy Denis Shapovalov 3-6 6-3 1-6 7-6 (7-4) 7-5 in his second round match. "I'm tired but really happy. I did a big fight, it's not easy to play against these young guns -- they go for everything," said Tsonga, the 2008 finalist, after the victory.

2018 Australian Open: Nick Kyrgios vs Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Friday

Kyrgios, fresh off his first home ATP Tour championship at the Brisbane International, is looking to go further than his quarterfinal appearance at the 2015 Australian Open.

"It was tough, a lot of things going on. The guy in the crowd was crazy. I didn't really know what was going on. The helicopter, that's when I was thinking like, 'Of course, it's at my match. It's just hovering there. Of course, it is.' But that actually made it tough. It was tough to return. Hearing the ball actually come off the racquets is a pretty big thing. I missed four returns. I'm just going to blame it on the helicopter," the young Aussie said of his victory on Wednesday.

A year ago, Nick Kyrgios was booed out of Melbourne Park by his own fans after a shocking second-round defeat to Andreas Seppi. In recent years, the mercurial Kyrgios has let code violations and other disciplinary actions hamper the outcome of critical moments in matches. However, the 21-year-old Australian is trying to eliminate the reputation that precedes him. Stay tuned for the latest on the 2018 Australian Open.

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