Jordan Thompson is well-versed at upsetting Andy Murray at the Queen’s Club, but his progression against the Scottish legend on Wednesday was not one he celebrated with great joy.
The 30-year-old joined Rinky Hijikata in the quarterfinals of the prestigious Wimbledon lead-in after Murray, a three-time major champion, retired with a back injury while trailing 1-4.
Thompson upset the Olympic gold medallist when he was the Scot was the world No.1 at Queen’s seven years ago in a match the Australian described as “probably my best tennis memory”.
Thompson was mindful his rival was in significant pain from the infancy of a match in which the Australian won 18 of the 26 points during their 23 minutes on court and proceeded to try to move Murray as much as possible, a tactic he learned from watching the 37-year-old play.
“It is never the way you want to see him go out,” Thompson said.
“He is a great champion, a grand slam champion who has won this tournament maybe five times and it is probably one of his favourite courts, so it is disappointing to see. I learned a lot of things from him and it is an honour to share the court with him.”
The dual-Wimbledon champion, who needed three sets to defeat another Australian Alexei Popyrin on Tuesday in his 1000th match on the ATP Tour, received treatment during the match but appeared in significant discomfort before withdrawing.
A five-time champion at the Queen’s Club, Murray was given a standing ovation as he departed the celebrated court for the last time in his career but is now in a race against time to be fit for Wimbledon and the Olympics, which might prove to be his final event.
“In the warm up, I felt a loss of co-ordination, a loss of control in my right leg,” he said.
“It’s been troubling me for some weeks, but nothing like this. I should not have gone on court, in hindsight.”
Thompson has returned to the top 40 on live ranking and is an outside chance of securing a Wimbledon seeding should he continue to progress at Queen’s.
“Today was tough because it is a bit breezy out there and the guy was clearly hurt,” Thompson said.
“Today it was really tough to get a gauge (on where I am at) but the other day against Holger Rune was great for me. I hung around, fought hard and played good grass court tennis, so hopefully I can continue that.”
Hijikata reached the quarterfinals of an ATP Tour 500 tier event for the first time with a tough 7-6 (0) 7-6 (7) victory over Italian Matteo Arnaldi, seizing the triumph on his sixth match point.
Aussie Hijikata through to Quarter Final | 00:53
The 23-year-old was well-received by the Queen’s Club crowd and said the opportunity to play on big stadium courts around the world was a highlight.
“I have always said that this is why you pick up a racket and start playing in first place, to play on centre court at the biggest tournaments in the world,” he said.
“So that was pretty sick today. It was an unreal atmosphere and to play at such a prestigious club is pretty special.”
Hijikata was on the verge of slipping out of the top 100 after experiencing a rough patch during the European clay court season, but his effort to qualify and reach the quarterfinals has ensured he will be inside the top 80 when the rankings are released before Wimbledon.
The Sydneysider praised his coach Mark Draper for ensuring he remained focused during the tricky period.
“I’m really pumped, especially after the last few months that I have had,” he said.
“Tennis is a funny sport. As I said at the French (Open), I felt like I was playing good tennis, but I just wasn’t getting the wins. It’s easy to get pretty negative and then kind of spiral a little bit, and maybe I was kind of trending in that direction.
“But … Mark’s been great in trying to keep me on the right path and telling me to just stick at it, because you’re going to have a big result just around the corner. And … if you show up every week, then sometimes you get lucky, and I feel like maybe this week, I’ve gotten a little bit lucky.
“But in saying that, I feel like I’ve kind of persevered the last two, three months. So I feel like you … make your own luck sometimes.”
He will play American Seb Korda, who lost to Alex de Minaur in the final in the Netherlands, in the quarterfinals.
Asked whether he would seek advice from the world No.7, who failed to back up his form this week at Queen’s, Hijikata pointed out that de Minaur was playing doubles with Korda in the tournament.
“I don’t know if he’ll be giving me a scouting report on his doubles partner but … I’ll try and maybe watch a little bit of a his match today and, either way, prepare well.
“Mark and I’ll have a chat about it and I’m sure that he’ll have an eager eye on his match or so. I’m really looking forward to the next round.”
In Birmingham, dual-Wimbledon quarterfinalist Ajla Tomljanovic is enjoying a return to grass and reached the quarterfinals with a 6-7 (6) 6-1 6-4 win over China’s Lin Zhu.