Tsitsipas crashes out of Indian Wells in second round
Send a link to a friend
[March 11, 2023]
By Rory Carroll
INDIAN WELLS, California (Reuters) -Stefanos Tsitsipas's hopes of
taking over the world number one ranking with an Indian Wells title
ended in a 7-6(0) 4-6 7-6(5) second-round loss to Australian Jordan
Thompson on Friday.
Second seed Tsitsipas told reporters on Wednesday that he did not
expect to make a deep run at the tournament due to his ailing
shoulder and it was unclear how much he had left in the tank after
he was blanked in the first set tie-breaker.
But the Greek battled back in the second and pumped up the crowd
ahead of the third set tie-break.
But overly aggressive play in it, including a forehand on match
point that missed the line by the slimmest of margins, was his
undoing.
A beaming Thompson fired a ball high into the air in celebration
after he notched his first win over Tsitsipas in three career
meetings and second over a top 10 player.
"Tricky match point," Thompson told reporters.
"The ball was only just out and it was a relief that it was. It was
a great feeling. You could see it on my face at the end of the
match. I was overcome with joy."
NORRIE ADVANCES
Earlier, Briton Cameron Norrie cruised past Taiwan's Tung-lin Wu 6-2
6-4.
Norrie, the 2021 champion, broke Wu four times en route to the win
and will next face either Italy's Matteo Berrettini or Japanese
qualifier Taro Daniel, who play later on Friday.
"Lots of good memories at Indian Wells," Norrie said. "It's nice to
be through to the third round."
The 10th seed is off to a terrific start this year having beaten
world number two Carlos Alcaraz in the Rio Open final last month to
claim his fifth singles title.
Norrie's win comes a day after unseeded Britons Andy Murray and Emma
Raducanu reached the second round at the ATP and WTA 1000 event in
the Southern California desert with gutsy wins.
Norrie will face qualifier Taro Daniel after the Japanese player
rallied to upset 20th seed Matteo Berrettini of Italy 7-6(5) 0-6 6-3
in the evening session.
Norwegian Casper Ruud's serve-forehand one-two punch proved too much
for Diego Schwartzman as the third seed advanced 6-2 6-3 over a
player who has given him trouble in the past.
"Everything sort of went my way," said Ruud, who now has four wins
and five losses against the Argentine.
[to top of second column] |
Tennis - ATP 500 - Rio Open - Jockey
Club Brasileiro, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil - February 25, 2023
Britain's Cameron Norrie in action during his semi final match
against Spain's Bernabe Zapata Miralles REUTERS/Sergio Moraes
"Early on there were a couple of line shots and net
cords that went my way, so I kind of felt that maybe today is my
day."
Russians Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev as well as American
Frances Tiafoe all breezed into the third round with comprehensive
straight sets wins in the evening session.
SABALENKA SLAYS
On the women's side, second seed Aryna Sabalenka needed just over an
hour to dispatch Russia's Evgeniya Rodina 6-2 6-0 as the Australian
Open champion improved to 14-1 on the year.
"Happy to win this match in two sets without struggling too much,"
Sabalenka told reporters.
The Belarusian next faces Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko. Players from
Belarus and Russia are once again playing under neutral flags at the
tournament due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"It's going to be interesting match," Sabalenka said.
"She's a great player and it's going to be a great battle."
Swiss Jil Teichmann upset her doubles partner and countrywoman
Belinda Bencic 3-6 6-3 6-3 on the Tokyo Olympic champion's 26th
birthday to reach the third round for the first time.
Third seeded American Jessica Pegula roared back to beat Italy's
Camila Giorgi 3-6 6-1 6-2 under the lights on center court to set up
a third round showdown with Russia's Anastasia Potapova.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko upset Croatian Donna Vekic 2-6
6-2 6-2, Latvian Jelena Ostapenko defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich 7-5
3-6 6-2 and Czech Barbora Krejcikova breezed past Ukrainian Dayana
Yastremska 6-1 6-2.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Indian Wells, California; Editing by
Ken Ferris and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|