INDIAN WELLS (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.
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 breaker.
But the Greek battled back and secured the only service break of the match in the second and pumped up the crowd ahead of the third set tiebreak.
But his overly aggressive play in the breaker, 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.
Earlier, Briton Cameron Norrie cruised past Taiwan’s Tung-lin Wu 6-2 6-4 and Jil Teichmann upset her doubles partner and fellow Swiss Belinda Bencic 3-6 6-3 6-3 in second round action.