Stefanos Tsitsipas was beaten 7-6 (0), 4-6, 7-6 (5) by Aussie Jordan Thompson in second-round play at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.
The second-seeded Tsitsipas had his shoulder taped and the injury appeared to affect his backhand.
Jordan took advantage and attacked the Greek’s backhand while charging in on short balls to earn his second career win over a top-10 player.
READ MORE: Roosters coach issues apology to Latrell
READ MORE: Eels coach defends curious tactics in thriller
READ MORE: ‘Did nothing’: Dragons frustrated after bye round
He polished off Tsitsipas, the Australian Open runner-up, in two hours, 37 minutes.
“It’s unreal. At a Masters 1000, in the [Indian Wells] Tennis Garden here,” Thompson said. “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.”
Thompson dropped only two points on serve in the opening set, and sealed the win when a forehand from Tsitsipas missed by the barest of margins, with the ball ruled out by just one millimetre.
“I wanted to take control of my service points,” Thompson said.
“Obviously, I can’t do much about his, he’s a big guy and he’s got a great serve. I wasn’t finding too much rhythm there on return towards the end but snuck one out. I stayed aggressive on serve and very thankful that last ball went wide.”
Thompson will play Chilean qualifier Alejandro Tabilo in the round of 32.
Elsewhere, No.3 seed Casper Ruud cruised past Diego Schwartzman 6-2, 6-3. Ruud raced to a 4-1 lead in the first set and won the only break point on his serve with a forehand that clipped the line.
No.10 seed Cameron Norrie advanced to the third round with a 6-2, 6-4 win over qualifier Wu Tung-Lin of Taiwan.
A handful of seeded men fell. Jason Kubler moved on when No.21 Grigor Dimitrov retired when trailing 2-6, 7-6 (5), 3-0. No.22 Roberto Bautista Agut lost to Emil Ruusuvuori, 7-6 (5), 6-2. Ilya Ivashka advanced when No.28 Botic Van de Zandschulp had to retire trailing 7-5, 3-2. No.29 Yoshihito Nishioka fell to qualifier Cristian Garin, 6-4, 6-0.
In women’s play, No.2 Aryna Sabalenka defeated Evgeniya Rodina, 6-2, 6-0.
No.9 Belinda Bencic lost to Jil Teichmann, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, and No.29 Donna Vekic was beaten by Lesia Tsurenko, 2-6, 6-2, 6-2.
No.11 Veronika Kudermetova defeated Anna Blinkova, 6-3, 6-4. Sixteenth-seeded Barbora Krejcikova beat Dayana Yastremska, 6-1, 6-2. No.24 Jelena Ostapenko got by Aliaksandra Sasnovich, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.
Rebecca Peterson moved on when No.22 Zhang Shuai retired at 3-0 in the first set.
– Additional reporting by Brett Graham
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!
All of Novak Djokovic’s grand slam triumphs, in order
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
