Melbourne: Showman Nick Kyrgios admitted Thursday he was on the verge of going "to a very dark place", but he put his head down to pull off a confidence-boosting win over Frenchman Gilles Simon at the Australian Open. The 24-year-old had the measure of the veteran early on then lost concentration and became agitated before refocusing to win 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 on his favoured Melbourne Arena. It set up a third-round clash with Russian 16th seed Karen Khachanov who beat Sweden's Mikael Ymer in five sets, with the winner on course to meet world number one Rafael Nadal in round four.

"I definitely lost my way a little bit... but I decided to refocus," Kyrgios said of his mini-meltdown in the third set. "I could have gone to a very dark place in the fourth set. "I put my head down, I told myself, 'Just cut the bullshit and just get to work'. I got the break at 5-all. It was a good feeling to get through that." And in a sign of a new-found maturity, he apologised to his player box after admonishing them when he was under pressure in the third set. "I apologised as soon as I went back into the locker room. They don't deserve that," he said. "They do a lot of things for me on and off the court. No, it's not acceptable from me. Nothing to do with them."