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Considering the top two seeds cruised through the week to reach the semi-finals of the Los Cabos Open, it was very surprising to see them both crash out of the ATP 250 event in Mexico on the eve of the final they were expected to grace.
I think it’s just a miracle, I never thought I’d be here. Jordan Thompson
The biggest surprise was the defeat of the top seeded Alexander Zverev who fell to the eighth seed from Australia, Jordan Thompson who needed seven match points to cause a major upset.
In what proved to be three-hours and 40-minutes of late-night drama with the match finishing after 1.00 am of the following day,, the 29-year-old Thompson edged into the final and the chance to win the first title of his career.
“I think it’s just a miracle,” Thompson said of his success which included saving three match points in his quarter final fightback against American Alex Michelsen. “I never thought I’d be here.”
Thompson won an opening set that featured five breaks before Zverev took the second without facing a break point.
In the decider there were no break chances for either player until Thompson created five including the first of his match points in the 12th game.
Zverev however, served and rallied his way out of trouble only for Thompson to take control in the tie-break by winning six straight points to lead 6-1, conceding just one more point before closing it out 7-5 4-6 7-6(2).
“It doesn’t feel effective,” the Aussie, who now leads 2-1 against the German, said. “It was over three and a half hours. It was just a great match and I just competed until the end I really don’t know what to say. I’m pretty tired.”
Casper Ruud on track to win his first title of the season
(Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
He will have to recover quickly to face Casper Ruud, the fourth seed from Norway, who earlier in the day, had dispatched the defending champion and second seed from Greece, Stefanos Tsitsipas, after one hour and 49-minutes, 6-4 7-6(4).
Ruud dominated the opening set with his serve and fought off five set points in the second before claiming victory to reach his first final of the season and the opportunity of claiming the 10th career title in his 19th final appearance.
The 25-year-old from Oslo, was rock-solid off the base line and while his opponent was able to raise his level in the second set, he was unable to break down Ruud’s solid defences.
“It was a really close match, all in all, especially the second set,” the world No.12 said in his post-match interview, before addressing the crowd in Spanish to thank them for their support. “I was fortunate to save a few set points there and hold him off. I was just a bit lucky, and in the tie-break, I played really well from the beginning. So I’m very happy with the win.”
Tsitsipas, who was bidding to successfully defend a title for the third time in his career, has now lost six consecutive matches against Top 20 opposition.
Following Saturday’s singles final, Ruud and Thompson will also compete against each other in the doubles semi-finals — with the winners set to return to centre court for the final after a suitable rest. Ruud is teaming up with American William Blumberg while Thompson and fellow Aussie Max Purcell are the fourth-seeded pairing and favourites.
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