Unseeded Australian Jordan Thompson shocked third-place Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6, (7/0), 4-6, 7-6 (7/5) on Friday. His second career win over a top 10 player took him to the third round. in Indian Wells.
The 28-year-old Thompson, ranked 87th in the world, sealed the defeat when a swift right hand from Tsitsipas landed just short of first match point.
“I’m grateful that the last ball was out of play – I thought it was in play,” Thompson told fans on the court.
He picked up his first win over Tsitsipas in three career bouts, robbing the Greek player of his chances of climbing to world number one in the Indian Wells Sunshine Double and the subsequent Miami Open, both joint WTA and ATP Masters 1000 events .
For Tsitsipas, it was another setback after reaching the final of the Australian Open in January.
He left Melbourne full of energy despite losing to Novak Djokovic in the title match, but suffered a shoulder injury shortly after.
After playing his first tournament since exiting the second round in Rotterdam, Tsitsipas admitted earlier this week that with his shoulder still bothering him, he didn’t have high hopes for a third Masters 1000 crown.
Thompson, who defeated French veteran Gael Monfils in the first round, will then face either US No. 32 seed Maxime Cressy or qualified Chilean Alejandro Tabilo.
“It’s unrealistic,” he said, noting that his aggressiveness in the first set set him on the path to victory.
While Tsitsipas led the third set on a 2-1 and 4-3 tiebreaker, Thompson kept his composure and Tsitsipas blinked his right hand into the net before narrowly missing the final point.
bb/rcw
Source: sports.yahoo.com
