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Nick Kyrgios will need to wait until Saturday (AEST) to finish his round-of-16 match at the Citi Open in Washington after rain forced play to be suspended.

Nick Kyrgios' hopes of securing a quarter-final berth at the Washington Open have been delayed by rain, his third-round match against Reilly Opelka set to resume on Saturday morning (AEST).

Kyrgios, the 2019 champion, won the first set in a tiebreak and led in the second as he chased a first career win against the fourth-seeded American.

In the pair's third meeting, lightning forced play to be suspended early in the first set and then again at 7-6 (7-1) 2-1.

The Washington Open is Kyrgios' first singles tournament since losing in the Wimbledon final to Novak Djokovic four weeks ago and will serve as important preparation for his US Open campaign.

Kyrgios dispatched Americans Marcos Giron and Tommy Paul in straight sets on his way to the round of 16 and if he defeats Opelka, will meet either Frances Tiafoe or Botic van de Zandschulp in the quarters.

Dutchman Van de Zandschulp and Tiafoe's match was suspended with each having claimed a set while Grigor Dimitrov was one set up against Sebastian Korda.

Elsewhere, third seed Taylor Fritz was forced to retire when trailing 16th-seeded Brit Daniel Evans 6-3 6-7 (6-8) 1-4 .

Karen Khachanov, the seventh seed, was upset 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-1) by Yoshihito Nishioka while Swede Mikael Ymer overcame Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland, 6-3-6-7 (3-7) 6-4.

"I never beat him, Khachanov, from when we were juniors," Japanese No.2 Nishioka said.

"I lost last year in the Olympics against him. It was a very, very close match but today I figured out how to beat him.

"Today was a crazy hot day ... I love long rallies; he doesn't like it. He wants to hit big forehands, but I tried to keep making him run for balls and move him ... It was, I think, a mentality battle."