Tsitsipas crashes out of Indian Wells in 2nd round

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 the tie-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.

“Tricky match point,” Thompson told reporters.

“The ball was only just out and it was a relief that it went out. It was a great feeling. You could see it on my face at the end of the match. I was overcome with joy.”

Earlier, Briton Cameron Norrie cruised past Taiwan’s Tung-lin Wu 6-2 6-4.

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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.