Sydney’s Jordan Thompson has ruthlessly ended Milos Raonic’s comeback occasion within the Netherlands, beating the previous Wimbledon finalist in straight units to succeed in the quarter-finals at ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
Alex de Minaur will be part of his compatriots Thompson and Rinky Hijikata within the last-eight however the exceptional prospect of 4 gamers from Sydney making the quarters was dashed as Alexei Popyrin acquired knocked out on Thursday.
Pride of place went to Thompson, who demonstrated as soon as once more his liking for grass courts as he defeated Canadian Raonic 7-6 (7-4) 6-1, thus spoiling what’s been an emotional return to the courts for the “Maple Leaf Missile”.
Raonic has been bedevilled by a sequence of accidents and hadn’t performed a aggressive occasion for practically two years when he returned brilliantly to knock out Serbia’s world No.39 Miomir Kecmanovic 6-3 6-4 along with his outdated monster serve ticking over fearsomely.
“There were times when I said, ‘I’m done’,” revealed the 32-year-old after his opening-round win. “At the end of 2021, I had no intention to play again, I thought, ‘I’m going to figure out my life’, shortly after I got married.”
But the 2016 Wimbledon finalist seemed rusty and over-reliant on his serve towards Thompson, who nonetheless needed to be affected person and dig in.
He could not break the Canadian within the opener and needed to save two set factors earlier than an early mini-break within the tiebreak helped him draw first blood.
It appeared to weigh closely on Raonic, who then misplaced 5 video games in a row within the second set, with Thompson even having fun with what as soon as would have been unthinkable – breaking one of the crucial formidable deliveries within the grass-court sport to like.
Thompson might need anticipated to face prime seed Daniil Medvedev within the quarters however the Russian, nonetheless on a little bit of a downer after his shock Roland Garros first-round exit, was toppled by flat-hitting French southpaw Adrian Mannarino, who got here from a set right down to earn the largest win of his profession 4-6 6-4 6-2.
Just as two years in the past at Queen’s, de Minaur had a tricky three units to barter earlier than he lastly subdued Serbian Laslo Djere 6-1 6-7 (5-7) 6-3.
In the last-eight, the Australian No.1 could have his fingers full with Dutch house favorite Tallon Griekspoor, who had earlier blown away Popyrin 6-3 6-2, thus spoiling the outlandish prospect of the Australian last-eight quartet.
Hijikata, in his first-ever ATP quarter-final, will likely be an extended shot towards American Mackenzie McDonald in Friday’s different quarter-final, however he will not be ruling out the prospect of a tantalising semi-final date towards Thompson, who’s set to leap again into the highest 100 after his win.
It guarantees to be a busy Friday for the Australian males’s Wimbledon-bound contingent, with Chris O’Connell additionally attributable to characteristic in quarter-final motion on the Stuttgart Open towards Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz.
Richard Gasquet precipitated the shock of the day on the German occasion, prevailing on his fifth match level to upset prime seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (10-8) 2-6 7-5. It was a landmark 600th ATP tour win for the French veteran, who turns 37 on Sunday.
While the Aussie males continued to impress, the ladies’s struggles continued with Kim Birrell getting knocked out within the round-of-16 at ‘s-Hertogenbosch towards Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4 7-6 (7-3).
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
