Sydney's Jordan Thompson has ruthlessly ended Milos Raonic's comeback event in the Netherlands, beating the former Wimbledon finalist in straight sets to reach the quarter-finals at 's-Hertogenbosch.
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Alex de Minaur will join his compatriots Thompson and Rinky Hijikata in the last-eight but the remarkable prospect of four players from Sydney making the quarters was dashed as Alexei Popyrin got knocked out on Thursday.
Pride of place went to Thompson, who demonstrated once again his liking for grass courts as he defeated Canadian Raonic 7-6 (7-4) 6-1, thus spoiling what's been an emotional return to the courts for the "Maple Leaf Missile".
Raonic has been bedevilled by a series of injuries and hadn't played a competitive event for nearly two years when he returned brilliantly to knock out Serbia's world No.39 Miomir Kecmanovic 6-3 6-4 with his old monster serve ticking over fearsomely.
"There were times when I said, 'I'm done'," revealed the 32-year-old after his opening-round win. "At the end of 2021, I had no intention to play again, I thought, 'I'm going to figure out my life', shortly after I got married."
But the 2016 Wimbledon finalist looked rusty and over-reliant on his serve against Thompson, who still had to be patient and dig in.
He couldn't break the Canadian in the opener and had to save two set points before an early mini-break in the tiebreak helped him draw first blood.
It seemed to weigh heavily on Raonic, who then lost five games in a row in the second set, with Thompson even enjoying what once would have been unthinkable - breaking one of the most formidable deliveries in the grass-court game to love.
Thompson might have expected to face top seed Daniil Medvedev in the quarters but the Russian, still on a bit of a downer after his shock Roland Garros first-round exit, was toppled by flat-hitting French southpaw Adrian Mannarino, who came from a set down to earn the biggest win of his career 4-6 6-4 6-2.
Just as two years ago at Queen's, de Minaur had a tough three sets to negotiate before he finally subdued Serbian Laslo Djere 6-1 6-7 (5-7) 6-3.
In the last-eight, the Australian No.1 will have his hands full with Dutch home favourite Tallon Griekspoor, who had earlier blown away Popyrin 6-3 6-2, thus spoiling the outlandish prospect of the Australian last-eight quartet.
Hijikata, in his first-ever ATP quarter-final, will be a long shot against American Mackenzie McDonald in Friday's other quarter-final, but he won't be ruling out the prospect of a tantalising semi-final date against Thompson, who's set to jump back into the top 100 after his win.
It promises to be a busy Friday for the Australian men's Wimbledon-bound contingent, with Chris O'Connell also due to feature in quarter-final action at the Stuttgart Open against Poland's Hubert Hurkacz.
Richard Gasquet caused the shock of the day at the German event, prevailing on his fifth match point to upset top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (10-8) 2-6 7-5. It was a landmark 600th ATP tour win for the French veteran, who turns 37 on Sunday.
While the Aussie men continued to impress, the women's struggles continued with Kim Birrell getting knocked out in the round-of-16 at 's-Hertogenbosch against Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4 7-6 (7-3).
Australian Associated Press
