Nick Kyrgios is out of the French Open after a dramatic and unedifying implosion against second-round opponent Kevin Anderson that saw him smash two racquets.

Australia’s last man standing unravelled after a dominant start to capitulate to a 5-7 6-4 6-1 6-2 to Anderson on Thursday.

The temperamental Kyrgios destroyed two racquets, including one he smashed six times onto a cooler, earning him a penalty point at the end of the second set.

Kyrgios also angrily smashed his racquet into the clay after one of his nine double faults and could be heard angrily muttering to himself as Anderson took control.

🤕 Nick #Kyrgios dans ses oeuvres ! #RIPLaRaquette #RG17 pic.twitter.com/VHpyr3BnHP

— Pierre (@PierreCaron31) June 1, 2017

It's not good being a racquet when you are Nick #Kyrgios' one 🤕 #RG17 (GIF @doublefault28) pic.twitter.com/jJ79Y7hTDU

— We Are Tennis (@WeAreTennis) June 1, 2017

As Kyrgios stalked off the court at the end of the match, he could be seen checking his phone.

Kyrgios loses in 2nd Rd to Anderson at French Open…figures he may as well check his phone on the way out #RG17 pic.twitter.com/7Sb2JX3utx

— John Horn (@SportsHorn) June 1, 2017

The 18th’s seed’s elimination leaves perennial women’s contender Samantha Stosur as Australia’s only third-round hope at Roland Garros.

Kyrgios said it was emotional torment that undermined his French Open campaign.

“After my grandpa passing, I just lost a lot of motivation to do anything, really,” he said after the match.

“When I was back home, it was tough. I mean, I can’t talk about it. I can’t.

“But I haven’t really put together any good training in the last couple weeks. Obviously, just trying to manage some niggles.

“And, obviously, I haven’t really structured any good training in the last five weeks.

“So I don’t think I was match-ready to play best-of-five sets, but he played well today. So he was too good.”

The demise of Kyrgios – who has been battling shoulder and hip injuries, the latter of which saw him withdraw from last month’s Italian Open – was as dramatic as it was disappointing.

Early on, the 22-year-old displayed in one extraordinary game why he could become Australia’s first men’s French Open champion in almost half a century.

Australian Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt predicted pre-tournament that Kyrgios’s lethal serve could cause carnage on the red clay and aid the 22-year-old’s prospects of venturing deep in the championship.

It’s a strategy that was working a treat against Anderson, with Hewitt courtside as Kyrgios achieved one of the rarest feats in tennis: rocketing down four aces in one game.

The stunning effort occurred in the eighth game of the opening set.
It was only three games later that Kyrgios rocked the one-time world No.10 with the first decisive break of the match.

He swiftly closed out the set before nabbing another early break in the second to forge ahead 2-0 and then 4-2.

But suddenly, as he did in his second-round Australian Open defeat to Andreas Seppi, Kyrgios collapsed.

He was broken for the first two times in the tournament in successive games to give up the second set before his title hopes spiralled out of control.

After receiving a code violation for angrily cracking his racquet into the dirt, Kyrgios copped his point penalty from chair umpire Damien Dumusois after double-faulting on set point and then obliterating a second racquet with a frenzied attack on the chair.

He lost the third set in 31 minutes, double-faulting to go a double break down as Anderson moved in for the kill.

Kyrgios was unable to convert either of two break-point chances in the second game of the fourth set before dropping his own serve the very next game.

He offered one last stand, fashioning three more break points on the South African’s big serve at love-40 in the second game.

But he was unable to capitalise as 31-year-old Anderson, the world No.56 in grand slam comeback from injury, closed out the match after two hours and 36 minutes to book a third-round meeting with Britain’s Kyle Edmund.

– With AAP