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Angry Thompson gunned down by Tsitsipas

3 minute read

Jordan Thompson has missed out on setting up a Wimbledon third-round meeting with fellow Australian Nick Kyrgios, losing to Greek world No.5 Stefanos Tsitsipas.

JORDAN THOMPSON.
JORDAN THOMPSON. Picture: Zak Kaczmarek/Getty Images

Central casting would place Jordan Thompson at the wrong end of a dusty street facing Clint Eastwood in a spaghetti western.

But the Sydneysider with the Zapata moustache and three-day-old growth instead found himself being blown away by the big guns of world No.5 Stefanos Tsitsipas at Wimbledon on Thursday.

It proved an unequal contest, the Greek No.4 seed shooting the Australian down in straight sets to set up a last-32 match with Thompson's good friend Nick Kyrgios, who had earlier beaten Filip Krajinovic.

But Thompson did not go as quietly under the Court No.1 roof as the 6-2 6-3 7-5 scoreline suggests.

The world No.76 led 3-1 in the second set, and later saved two match points, but the key, explosive moment came at 3-3 in the second with Thompson fighting to hold serve.

A line judge called a Tsitsipas shot out, but the umpire overruled before Thompson hit his return into the net. The Greek went on to break.

"That was a joke, an absolute joke," Thompson told the umpire.

"The call came way before I took the shot. Don't shake your head, because we're going to watch it later and you're going to apologise."

Thompson added at the changeover, "You don't need to make the call, just because you are panicking, you hit the panic button. You're 100 per cent wrong."

Thompson had been overwhelmed in the opening set but broke early in the second following a stunning running forehand as he chased down a Tsitsipas stop-volley drop shot.

However, his the No.4 seed broke back immediately, to Thompson's evident annoyance.

Then came the second, controversial, break of Thompson's serve and the set was gone.

The final set went with serve until Thompson slipped to 0-40 at 5-6. He saved two match points, but went long and lost the third.

"It was a bad call but, credit to him, he apologised to me," Thompson said afterwards.

"The referee came up and found me and he said he'd said: 'If you see him, please tell him I am sorry if I made a bad call.'"

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