Unseeded Australian Jordan Thompson captured one of the biggest wins of his career on Friday, beating third-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (7/0), 4-6, 7-6 (7/5 ) reached the third round after defeating Indian Wells WTA and ATP Masters.
“It’s unreal, in the Masters 1000 … to win like that is unbelievable,” said Thompson, the world number 87 whose only previous win over a top-10 player came back in 2017 against Andy Murray at Queen’s Club .
He admitted he was feeling a bit lucky when a stinging forehand from Tsitsipas was fired a hair wide on match point.
Thompson told fans on the court, “I’m grateful that last ball was out – I thought it was in.”
While Tsitsipas led 2–1 and 4–3 in the third set tiebreaker, Thompson’s coolness under pressure paid off as Tsitsipas fired a forehand into the net to give the Aussies a match point.
It was another blow for Tsitsipas after a stellar performance in the Australian Open final in January.
He left Melbourne energized after losing the title match to Novak Djokovic, but soon afterwards suffered a shoulder injury.
Tsitsipas, playing in his first tournament since a second-round exit in Rotterdam, admitted earlier this week that his shoulder was still troubling him and he didn’t hold out much hope for a third Masters 1000 title.
Tsitsipas and women’s second seed Aryna Sabalenka – playing just her second tournament after winning the Australian Open – were the headlines in Friday’s second round action as the seeded players took to the court after enjoying byes in the first round. took.
Sabalenka eased into the third round with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Evgenia Rodina, who was playing her eighth match since returning to competition at last year’s US Open after three years away from the sport. Was.
Sabalenka said, “It is a pleasure to win this match in two sets without much struggle.”
Sabalenka, still barred from playing under her native flag of Belarus due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, will next face Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko, who beat 29th seed Croatian Donna Vekic 2-6, 6-2. Defeated. 6-2.
Rood, Nori get off easily
Third seed Casper Ruud and former champion Cameron Norrie both advanced to the third round with straight sets wins.
For Rudd, a 6-2, 6-3 victory over former top-10 Argentine Diego Schwartzman was a confidence-boosting victory in a season in which he had so far failed to get past the second round in three Tour-level tournaments. . Played
For Norrie, however, a 6-2, 6-4 victory over qualifier Wu Tung-lin of Taiwan marked a continuation of the form that saw her reach finals in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro last month, where He had previously lost to Carlos Alcaraz. and defeat Alcaraz in the second.
Schwartzman had won five of his eight previous meetings with Rudd, but the Norwegian, currently ranked fourth in the world, had little trouble against him on Friday, winning twice in the first set and once in the second. Did. hour and 28 minutes.
“I lost here to Diego a couple of years ago, so it was nice to have some revenge,” said Ruud, last year’s French Open and US Open finalist.
“The goal was to try to play heavy and sometimes mix it up a bit, come to the net and luckily today somehow it went well for me.”
In other early women’s action, Czech Barbora Krejcikova avenged her loss in Doha last year by defeating Dayana Yastremska 6-1, 6-2 in just 69 minutes.
Former French Open champion Krejcikova is upsetting top-ranked Iga Swiatek in the final in Dubai last month, where Krejcikova defeated the world’s top three players.
World number five Daniil Medvedev, fresh from ATP wins Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai, was due to open his campaign against American Brandon Nakashima on Friday night.
On the women’s side, seventh seed Maria Sakkari, last year’s runner-up to Swiatek, trailed 4-1 to American Shelby Rogers when a desert rain shower halted play.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)