Jordan Thompson’s adventures in Wimbledon wonderland have continued with the wounded warrior storming into the fourth round of his favourite event for the first time in his career.
Still troubled by a debilitating back injury that had him protesting after his two previous courageous five-set wins that even “snails move faster”, Thompson looked in much sharper nick as he had too much grass-court nous for Italian Luciano Darderi in their third-round clash on Friday, prevailing 6-4 6-4 3-6 6-3.
It booked the battling Thompson his first last-16 appearance at Wimbledon at the ninth attempt and only the second fourth-round date of his grand slam career, matching his US Open performance of last year and 2020.
He is the first Australian to reach the fourth round at the grass-court slam this year, with both Alex de Minaur and Daria Kasatkina having the chance to join him when they play on Saturday.
In the amphitheatre of Court 18, the 31-year-old also managed to bypass the sort of nerve-shredding drama of his previous two matches, which he had won in five-set slogs, this time nipping Darderi’s attempted comeback in the bud after the Italian had taken the third set.
That raised the prospect that marathon man Thompson might be dragged into a seventh career five-setter at Wimbledon – he’s won five and lost just one – only for him to reassert his quality against the 23-year-old Darderi whose two wins at Wimbledon this year doubled his career tally of grass-court victories.
Thompson will be relieved to have won in seven minutes under three hours to avoid any more pressure on his back, especially with a daunting last-16 outing awaiting against in-form fifth seed Taylor Fritz, who defeated Spain’s 26th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-4 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-1.
But he believes he can win the last-16 date on Sunday against Fritz, the big-serving American he beat on the grass at Queen’s Club last year.
“It’s a pathetic outlook if I go out there thinking I can’t win. I won last time on grass, but very different grass, in different circumstances. So, you know, it’ll be a new day,” said the 31-year-old Sydneysider.
Earlier, Rinky Hijikata’s daydream of pulling off the greatest of Wimbledon escapes against American big-hitter Ben Shelton lasted less than a minute when the pair resumed their match after it had been controversially suspended on Thursday evening.
Hijikata had got the unexpected chance to live to fight another day after saving three match points and then being reprieved by a controversial postponement of play on Thursday night amid farcical scenes as darkness descended.
But when the match resumed on No.2 Court in the Friday afternoon sunshine with No.10 seed Shelton serving for the match, everyone could see the funny side once he won all four points in just 55 seconds, including three booming aces, to complete the straightforward 6-2 7-5 6-3 victory in two hours 12 minutes.
Sydneysider Hijikata, who had been unable to dent the two-time grand semi-finalist’s delivery all match, grinned ruefully as any chance of him becoming the fourth Australian to qualify for the third round alongside Alex de Minaur, Jordan Thompson and Daria Kasatkina was blasted away.
Hijikata, who had in the last game on Thursday saved three match points to extend the match, paid tribute to Shelton.
“Last night’s experience was bizarre … but that was probably an absolute clinic on how to serve out a match if you’ve got one game to go,” said Hijikata.
“Yeah, credit to him. It’s not easy to come out and serve out a match when you have a bit of pressure and you’ve had the night off. I thought it was bloody good effort by him.”
