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Nick Kyrgios came face-to-face with two of his heroes and got the best of both of them.

Kyrgios produced the best performance of his Australian Open career knocking off Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (8), 7-6 (5) to reach the fourth round.

Watch: Kyrgios Unloads on Prankster

A cheeky Kyrgios upstaged Men in Black star Will Smith in his post-match interview.

The Aussie No. 1, a huge Smith fan, said seeing the star watching his match in Rod Laver Arena added a degree of difficulty.

"Honestly when I saw him out here I was so nervous," Kyrgios told Jim Courier in his on-court interview. "No joke. I was thinking ‘oh my god.’ People think that I’m cool but I wanted him to think I was the coolest man ever."



Citing Focus as one of his favorite movies, Kyrgios playfully jabbed the Fresh Prince star with his reason.

"I’ve got to tell him," Kyrgios said. "I have Focus on my phone and I watch it every time I have a flight. Best movie ever ... it’s because of Margot Robbie by the way."

That line prompted a thumbs-up from Smith, who told Channel 7's Courier he is a Kyrgios fan.




“I love it. I love his energy," Smith told Courier. "He has this little bow on his wrist, it looks like a power thing...

"I don’t know a lot about tennis but watching him I was like man, I think I might have to take this up a little bit."

The pair met after the match.

"That was amazing," Kyrgios told the media. "No joke, he's like my favorite actor. I get asked if one person were acting your life, I'd always pick him.

"It was surreal seeing him tonight. You know, I was talking to him in the third set. I kept looking at him. I was like, I got to break the ice, I got to say something. He was really nice. I met him after the match. He was really genuine. Yeah, it was nice to meet him."

Aussie fanatics serenaded Smith with a familiar tune.



In his first match of the tournament on Rod Laver Arena, Kyrgios said Smith upstaged him.

"Every time he got shown on the screen, they cheered louder for him than any of the shots we were making," Kyrgios said. "I was like, Man, you may as well just stay out here, they probably enjoy that more than the tennis. I said, I watched a load of your movies a bunch of times. It was pretty cringe, but it broke the ice."

Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve

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