Jordan Thompson has ended all hopes of Stefanos Tsitsipas taking on the world No.1 rating with an Indian Wells title, knocking off the Greek in a rousing three-set victory within the second spherical.
The Australian delivered a 7-6 (7-0) 4-6 7-6 (7-5) win on Friday to advance to the spherical of 32 on the Masters 1000 occasion.
Second-seed Tsitsipas advised reporters on Wednesday he didn’t count on to make a deep run on the event on account of his ailing shoulder and it was unclear how a lot he had left within the tank after he was blanked within the first set breaker.
But the Greek battled again and secured the one service break of the match within the second and pumped up the gang forward of the third set tiebreak.
But his overly aggressive play within the breaker, together with a forehand on match level that missed the road by the slimmest of margins, was his undoing.
A beaming Thompson fired a ball excessive into the air in celebration after he notched his first win over Tsitsipas in three profession conferences and second over a top-10 participant.
“It’s unreal,” stated Thompson.
“At a Masters 1000, in the Indian Wells Tennis Garden here. It’s one of my favourite tournaments, I think a lot of players’ favourite tournaments, to play. To have a win like that is incredible. I’m really happy.”
The 28-year-old Sydneysider, who beat French veteran Gael Monfils in straight units within the opening spherical, will now meet the winner of Maxime Cressy and Alejandro Tabilo within the spherical of 32.
Earlier, Cameron Norrie cruised previous Taiwan’s Tung-lin Wu 6-2 6-4 in second-round motion.
Norrie, the 2021 champion, broke Wu 4 instances en path to the win and can subsequent face both Italy’s Matteo Berrettini or Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel.
“Lots of good memories at Indian Wells,” Norrie stated. “It’s nice to be through to the third round.”
The tenth seed is off to a terrific begin this 12 months having crushed world No.2 Carlos Alcaraz within the Rio Open last final month to assert his fifth singles title.
Norwegian Casper Ruud’s serve-forehand one-two punch proved an excessive amount of for Diego Schwartzman because the third seed superior 6-2 6-3 over a participant who has given him bother prior to now.
“Everything sort of went my way,” stated Ruud, who now has 4 wins and 5 losses in opposition to the Argentine.
“Early on there were a couple of line shots and net cords that went my way, so I kind of felt that maybe today is my day.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
