Hot Shot: Kyrgios hits tweener for the ages in Miami loss

When Nick Kyrgios goes down a break, it's easy to think the set is over. After all, he wins just 11.8 percent of his return games, listing him 78th on the ATP Tour.

But, trailing 1-3 in the opening set of his fourth-round match in Miami, against Borna Coric, Kyrgios broke back with the help of what has to be the most creatively constructed point of the tournament.

After bunting a drop shot to follow in toward the net, he knocked a look-the-other-way volley, forcing Coric to make a backhand stick save. Then Kyrgios, having to chase the ball all the way back to his ad-court corner, pulled off a crosscourt passing tweener, a shot with a target so small it made all his prior tweener experience necessary.

"Honestly, I wasn't going to run for the lob. Then I just ran for it and somehow I hit the shot," Kyrgios said. "I don't really think when I'm out there. I just play."

Kyrgios broke to win that game, and then once more to win the set, 6-4. But it was mostly downhill for him after that.

"Kind of got a little bored in the second set, like my concentration just started veering off," Kyrgios said. "He's a good enough player to just capitalize. And, yeah, I mean, I lost the match on my racquet today, no doubt about it. But, you know, it's no surprise, honestly. I have done it before."

In Set 2, Kyrgios was broken to go down 2-4. He subsequently smashed his racquet and gave it to a fan in a Kyrie Irving Celtics jersey. (It warranted an automatic code-violation warning, which will be important later.)

And, this time, Kyrgios wasn't able to break back, and lost the set 6-3.

Between sets, he played a game of Flip the Water Bottle, as he's known to do.

The third set wasn't an improvement for him, either, as he lost his serve again in the fifth game. And, later, serving down 2-4 and 30-40, Kyrgios was assessed a second code violation, for an audible obscenity directed at a spectator. Thanks to the racquet smash, this one was worth a point penalty, and he immediately went down a second break.

In the final game, Kyrgios managed one last incredible shot, —a 106-mph return winner—but it wasn't enough to get him back into contention.

Kyrgios, as has come to be unsurprising from him, took to Twitter shortly after the match.

"It's a tough loss. I mean, there were some really cool points, obviously," Kyrgios said. "I just have to be better mentally. Simple as that. I've got to lock in, just take care of 40-15 points, not screw around so much."

Coric, meanwhile, has a quarterfinal with Felix Auger-Aliassime to prepare for.