Tsitsipas Triumphs Over Thompson in an Epic Battle at the Australian Open

Melbourne Park darling Stefanos Tsitsipas has ended the Australian Open run of Jordan Thompson with a scintillating 4-6, 7-6, 6-2, 7-6 victory in the second round on Wednesday night.

The world No 7 did not have it all his own way against the Sydneysider, who was close to taking a two-sets-to-love lead in a critical tiebreak, and had four chances to tie the match at two sets. But Tsitsipas survived intense pressure from the dangerous world No 47, securing the result in four nail-biting sets, over three hours and 37 minutes.

Thompson looked buried in the fourth set, with the Greek finding his groove with his angular serve and his heavy groundstrokes to take a 5-3 lead. Tsitsipas even had two match points before the Australian somehow found a way back in as the match entered its fourth hour. Sending a forehand deep to the Tsitsipas backhand, Thompson charged the net, tucking home the volley to tie the fourth set at 5-5.

After holding to love, Thompson then had four set points on the Greek’s serve in a marathon twelfth game, lasting more than 12 minutes. But the extra point proved elusive, and Tsitsipas steadied to take the deciding tiebreak 7-4.

The riveting spectacle was played in front of close to 7,500 enthralled fans in the Margaret Court Arena, split in support evenly between the two combatants. Melbourne’s Greek diaspora made their presence felt, their blue and white flags fluttering as evening turned into night on the tournament’s fourth day.

Thompson – who beat countryman Aleks Vukic in the first round – loomed as a test for Tsitsipas, after the Australian won the last match between the pair, at Indian Wells last year. The Greek player had a disappointing 2023. At that point, he was close to the No 1 ranking, but by the end of the year he had won just a single tournament, an ATP 250 event in Mexico.

Tsitsipas now looks forward to a meeting with 178cm-tall French player Luca Van Assche, who beat 25th-seeded Italian Lorenzo Musetti in five sets. ‘He has a good baseline game, he moves pretty well,’ Tsitsipas said. ‘Obviously, he’s not the tallest of players, but he can really play well and stay in the rallies.’

Thompson is entered in the doubles draw with countryman Max Purcell, who plays Casper Ruud in the second round of the men’s singles on Thursday.