AUSSIE THOMPSON CUTS TSITSIPAS DOWN TO SIZE
UNSEEDED Australian Jordan Thompson shocked third-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (7/0) 4-6 7-6 (7/5) on Saturday, his second career win over a top-10 player putting him into the third round at Indian Wells.
Thompson, 28 and ranked 87th in the world, secured the upset when a blistering forehand from Tsitsipas landed just wide on the first match point.
“I’m thankful that last ball was out – I thought it was in,” Thompson told fans on court.
He gained his first victory over Tsitsipas in three career meetings, ending the Greek player’s chances of rising to number one in the world over the course of the “Sunshine Double” of Indian Wells and the following Miami Open, both joint WTA and ATP
Masters 1000 events. For Tsitsipas it was another setback in the wake of his run to the Australian Open final in January.
He departed Melbourne energized despite falling to Novak Djokovic in the title match, but shortly thereafter suffered a shoulder injury.
Playing his first tournament since a second-round exit at Rotterdam, Tsitsipas admitted earlier this week that with his shoulder still troubling him he didn’t have high hopes of a third Masters 1000 crown.
Thompson, who defeated French veteran Gael Monfils in the first round, next faces either US 32nd seed Maxime Cressy or Chilean qualifier Alejandro Tabilo.
“It’s unreal,” he said, crediting an aggressive mindset in the first set with putting him on the path to victory. While Tsitsipas led the third-set tiebreaker 2-1 and 4-3, Thompson held his nerve and Tsitsipas was the one to blink, slamming a forehand into the net before the miss on the final point. AUSTRALIAN Open champion Aryna Sabalenka eased into the third round of the Indian Wells WTA and ATP Masters 1000 on Saturday with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Evgeniya Rodina.
Sabalenka, playing just her second tournament since she lifted her first Grand Slam trophy in Melbourne in January, needed just 65 minutes to dispatch Rodina, who was playing her eighth match since returning to competition at the US Open last year after taking three years away on a second maternity leave.
Sabalenka admitted she didn’t even remember that she had played Rodina before, in Tashkent in 2017, but she was pleased to get through with little trouble in a tournament where she has never made it past the round of 16.
Russia’s Rodina, who ousted France’s Alize Cornet in the first round, offered little resistance. Sabalenka converted five of her 12 break chances and saved all four break points she faced.
Sabalenka, still barred from playing under her native flag of Belarus because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, next faces Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko, who beat 29th-seeded Croatian Donna Vekic 2-6, 6-2. 6-2.
Tsurenko has won four WTA titles and reached the final of the Thailand Open in early February.