LONDON: Jordan Thompson was unable to build on his stunning Queen’s Club victory over Andy Murray as the Australian was beaten by Sam Querrey in the second round here on Thursday.

Thompson, ranked a lowly 90th, was the talk of the tennis world after his astonishing straight-sets victory over world number one Murray.

But the 23-year-old’s bid to reach only his second Tour-level quarter-final was brought to an end by Querrey’s 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 6-3 win at the Wimbledon warm-up.

While Thompson will rue his missed opportunity, he should leave west London with renewed belief in his ability after his brief but memorable moment in the spotlight.

Thompson received an unexpected call-up when Aljaz Bedene, Murray’s scheduled opponent, withdrew with a wrist injury just hours before Tuesday’s match.

Querrey, ranked 28th, has impressive pedigree on grass after lifting the Queen’s trophy in 2010 and memorably shocking Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon last year.

Yet Thompson made the American work for every point before finally succumbing in two hours and 11 minutes.

With Murray, Stan Wawrinka and Milos Raonic already knocked out, Croatian fourth seed Marin Cilic is the highest ranked player left in the draw.

The 2012 Queen’s champion breezed through with a 6-0, 6-4 second-round victory over American teenager Stefan Kozlov.

Cilic’s sixth Queen’s Club quarter-final appearance will come against American Donald Young as the former US Open champion aims to reach the final for the third time.

Watched by David Beckham and son Romeo, highly-rated Russian youngster Daniil Medvedev defeated Australian wildcard Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-2, 6-2.

Kokkinakis, the world number 698, became the lowest ranked player to beat a top-six opponent since 1994 when he shocked former Wimbledon finalist Raonic in the first round.

But Medvedev, 21, is emerging as a potential star and, just a week after beating Kokkinakis at ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the world number 60 was on top again as he cruised to a quarter-final meeting with Bulgarian sixth seed Grigor Dimitrov.

Spain’s Feliciano Lopez advanced to his third Queen’s quarter-final with a 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) win against French qualifier Jeremy Chardy.

Lopez, the Queen’s runner-up in 2014, takes on Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych for a place in the last four.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2017

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