Australian Jordan Thompson has suffered the double agony of a narrow defeat in the biggest semi-final of his career being compounded by an apparent back injury in his battling Queen’s Club Championship loss to Lorenzo Musetti.
Thompson, playing the first semi-final of an ATP 500 event in his 11-year career, put up a familiarly doughty fight to forge back after losing the first set but eventually succumbed 6-3 3-6 6-3 to the graceful Italian, who’d knocked out Australian No.1 Alex de Minaur earlier in the week.
Thompson had been hoping to emulate de Minaur, who reached the final of grasscourt tennis’s second biggest event last year, but a back problem, which flared up early in the second set, did not help as he needed constant treatment throughout Saturday’s match.
The problem, which had seemed to occur when he stooped low to slice a shot after he had earned an early break in the second set, still didn’t stop the Sydneysider playing a brilliant set, going on the attack to rush the 22-year-old rising star from Carrara out of his elegant comfort zone and level the match
Thompson had one medical timeout in which he lay at courtside while receiving treatment and the physio was called called at subsequent changeovers.
The match looked as if it could go either way in a tight deciding set, but the 30-year-old Thompson finally cracked under the pressure of a concerted assault on the Aussie’s delivery by Musetti in the eighth game.
Three times, Thompson repelled break points before, at the fourth time of asking, he had to watch in agony as what looked to be a winning drop volley at the net drifted wide of the tramline by a mere millimetre to give the Italian the crucial breakthrough.
Thompson could only stand at the net in horror, barely able to believe the volley was out, and he never really recovered as Musetti served out to love before collapsing in delight.
“That was definitely one of the toughest matches of this week. Jordan was playing at an amazing level, especially in the second and third set,” said Musetti, having displayed how Italian men’s tennis is not just all about world No.1 Jannik Sinner and former Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini.
“At 4-3 I played some amazing shots which gave me the break and I didn’t shake, even under pressure. It was key for me to hold serve at the end and I’m really proud of what I’ve achieved this week.
“I love this sport, I’m really passionate about it and since I was a kid I dreamt to be number one in the world.
“It would be super nice to win here in Queen’s with so much history. There are a lot of Italians here in London, I really feel like I’m at home.”
