Australian Open: Nick Kyrgios Overcomes Shorts Mix-Up to Set Up Tomas Berdych Clash

Rising star Nick Kyrgios overcame a mix-up with his shorts to beat Pablo Cuevas in straight sets and set up an Australian Open showdown with Tomas Berdych on Wednesday. (Novak Djokovic Passes French Test)

Despite needing to change his shorts midway, the exciting 20-year-old Australian beat the 41st-ranked Cuevas 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (7/2) in almost two hours before a partisan home crowd on Hisense Arena. (Federer Advances | Kei Nishikori Enter Third Round)

Krygios, whose first pair of shorts apparently didn't have pockets deep enough to hold balls while he was serving, smashed 50 winners as he broke the Uruguayan's serve four times.

"Just a bit of a mix-up before the game. I guess it will be fixed by the next round," shrugged the 29th seed, whose next opponent, Berdych, has reached the last two semi-finals at Melbourne Park. (Tsonga Comes To Aid of Ball Girl)

"I've played him a couple times. He's going to be wanting to win as much as I'm going to be wanting to win, so it's going to be tough," Kyrgios said of the world number six.

"The crowd's going to be crazy. They all love Berdych. He has a massive fan base. He's one of the greatest players right now. It's going to be a really good match."

Kyrgios, who made the quarter-finals last year where he lost to Andy Murray, said Cuevas played at "a pretty high level."

"I thought the first set was really key, had to get the first set," he said. "I thought he was pretty high level. We both played well from the back. He served really well.

"I am very relieved to get through that in straight sets."

Krygios's combustible temperament was evident again on court at times, despite his US$3,000 fine for an audible obscenity in his first round win over Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta on Monday.