Jordan Thompson’s hopes of back-to-back shock wins have cracked – along with one of his smashed racquets – at the Japan Open.
Fresh from knocking out Olympic champion and world No.9 Alexander Zverev in his opening match, Sydneysider Thompson battled gamely to douse the firepower and took a one-set lead against US Open semi-finalist Ben Shelton in their last-16 clash on Wednesday.
But the Australian was gradually overpowered by the world No.19’s incessant attacks as Shelton found his deadly range, with Thompson reduced to furiously smashing his racquet in disgust after one weak forehand gifted the American southpaw the key break for 3-1 in the deciding set.
There was no way back for world No.60 Thompson after that, as he eventually succumbed 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-3 following a compelling contest lasting two hours 49 minutes.
‘Tommo’, as ever, could not be faulted for his spirit as he took the opening set in a draining 72 minutes, grimly holding on in a tiebreak against the 21-year-old’s superior weaponry before pinching the stanza as Shelton coughed up one error too many.
The winners started to come, though, for the powerful leftie – he slammed 42 in all – as he constantly had Thompson on the backfoot while pounding down 13 aces.
The Australian found too many of his service games a struggle as Shelton earned 11 break points, converting three, while Thompson didn’t get a look in on the American’s delivery after his lone break in the first set.
There are still hopes there will be Australian representation in the quarters at the Ariake Colosseum, with No.4 seed Alex de Minaur facing Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman in the last-16 on Thursday, after Alexi Popyrin’s bid to beat Chilean qualifier Cristian Garin.
In other matches on Wednesday, No.8 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime stormed back into business after his trying season, hammering Austrian Sebastian Ofner 6-4 6-1.
It was the first time the Canadian has won consecutive matches since March as he reeled off the last six games.
“I need results like this,” he said, after backing up his win over Australian Aleksandar Vukic in the first round.
“I believe in my game and I believe in myself that I have what it takes to win at this level. I have done it before but it is about doing it and having a lot of belief and a positive mind. I am happy that my level is translating to the match court after a couple of months.”
Auger-Aliassime next plays American qualifier Marcos Giron, who pulled off the surprise of the day by defeating second seed Casper Ruud 6-3 6-4.
Hubert Hurkacz was also an unexpected early casualty, losing his first-round match to Zhang Zhizhen 3-6 6-4 7-6 (7-4), the same Chinese player he had beaten en route to winning the Shanghai Masters last week.
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