Jordan Thompson has set a second-round showdown with a former world No.4 after downing fourth seed Casper Ruud.
Tokyo, 27 September 2024 | Dan Imhoff
Jordan Thompson has set a second-round showdown with house favorite and former world No.4 Kei Nishikori in Tokyo after toppling fourth seed Casper Ruud for the second time this season.
Thompson defeated Ruud for his maiden ATP 500 title at Los Cabos, Mexico in February and has since climbed into the highest 30 following a robust North American hard-court swing, which included a runner-up exhibiting in Atlanta and a fourth spherical on the US Open.
His 7-6(5) 6-1 opening win on the ATP 500 occasion in Tokyo improved his file towards top-10 opponents because the begin of 2023 to 5-7 and levelled his general head-to-head towards the Norwegian at 3-all.
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“Actually happy to get the W and in straight units, which is uncommon for me,” Thompson informed TennisTV.
“Might’ve gone both means. Pulled a fortunate shot on the market at 5-all within the tiebreak. I assumed we had been enjoying nice tennis in that first set. First recreation of the second, down love-40 and it was an enormous maintain and bought out to a 5-love lead, so it was nearly holding that momentum.”
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Thompson, who grew to become a Grand Slam doubles champion on the US Open with Max Purcell, stated the success had little bearing on his singles recreation.
“It doesn’t actually have an effect on me that a lot,” he stated. “I misplaced the Wimbledon last [in doubles] after holding match factors and bought straight again on the horse and made the ultimate in Atlanta in singles and, , didn’t actually have that hangover, so I don’t let it get to me an excessive amount of, however I’ll undoubtedly take the title of Grand Slam champion.”
Fellow Australian Chris O’Connell landed a 6-4 7-6(5) victory over Argentine world No.35 Tomas Martin Etcheverry, however world No.23 Alexei Popyrin was not so lucky.
In a rematch of his Montreal Masters first spherical, Popyrin succumbed to Czech Tomas Machac 6-3, 6-7(5) 7-5.
The 79th-ranked O’Connell set a second-round assembly with fellow qualifier, American Alex Michelsen, who downed fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
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