Rafael Nadal of Spain reacts during his men's singles tennis match against Nick Kyrgios of Australia at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, in London July 1, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

For Nadal, who won Wimbledon in 2008 and 2010, it was yet another early exit at the grass-court tournament against a much-lower-ranked opponent. In 2012, he lost in the second round against No. 100 Lukas Rosol. Last year, he was beaten in the first round by No. 135 Steve Darcis. Neither of those players is considered an up-and-coming contender like Kyrgios is, but the common thread among the trio was going for broke.

"The thing is, (on) this surface, when you have an opponent that decides to serve and to hit every ball very strong, you are in trouble," Nadal said.

Kyrgios, who saved nine match points while beating 13th-seeded Richard Gasquet in the second round, showed zero hint of nerves. Indeed, he soaked up all the attention and adoration offered by the Centre Court crowd, particularly after an audacious trick shot: Facing the net at the baseline, he whipped his racket around his back and casually flicked a shot that sailed between his legs and over the net for a winner.

He joked about reading that his mother said she didn't think he could beat Nadal.

"It actually made me a bit angry," Kyrgios said, then noted: "I'll just text her a smiley face."

On Wednesday, he faces No. 8 Milos Raonic of Canada, another man never before this far at Wimbledon. The other men's quarterfinals: seven-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer against good friend and Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka in an all-Swiss matchup; defending champion Andy Murray against No. 11 Grigor Dimitrov; and 2011 champion Novak Djokovic against No. 26 Marin Cilic.

The women's quarterfinals Wednesday: No. 3 Simona Halep against 2013 runner-up Sabine Lisicki, and No. 9 Angelique Kerber against No. 13 Eugenie Bouchard. The semifinal on the other side of the draw was established Tuesday: 2011 champion Petra Kvitova against No. 23 Lucie Safarova.

Kerber edged Sharapova 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-4 Tuesday. Sharapova made 49 unforced errors, 38 more than Kerber. Still, the 2004 champion saved one match point at 5-2 in the final set, then five more at 5-4, before pushing a backhand long to end it.

"I felt like I worked too hard within the match to let it go the easy way. So I did everything I could in the end to try to save those," Sharapova said. "I did, but I didn't save the last one."