Los Cabos: Thompson upsets Ruud to claim first ATP singles title
Thompson will climb to a new career-high of No 32 in the world rankings on Monday
Jordan Thompson at the 2023 Japan Open
Image Credit: Aflo / Panoramic
Australia’s Jordan Thompson capped off a dream week at the Los Cabos Open by upsetting fourth seed Casper Ruud, of Norway, to win his first career ATP singles title on Saturday.
Thomspon started strong, going ahead an early break to lead 5-2 and held on for a 6-3 first set win. In the second, Ruud was the one to draw first blood and lead 2-0. However, the 29-year-old Australian fought back to win five of the next six games to take a 5-3 lead.
There was another twist as Ruud broke back as the Australian served for the title but Thompson held on to his nerve to win the tiebreaker and complete the 6-3, 7-6 in just over two hours.
Thompson was playing in his third career singles final and had spent 12 hours on court this week already. He saved three matchpoints during a comeback win over Alex Michelsen in the quarter-finals, during which he was trailing 6-0, 3-0 at one point. He also survived a three-hour 40-minute marathon in the semi-finals yesterday against Alexander Zverev.
Thompson and Ruud were scheduled to return to the court shortly to play their doubles semi-final against each other. The Australian will team with countryman Max Purcell while Ruud will partner William Blumberg. Thompson has the opportunity become the first player to win the singles and doubles event at the same tournament since Nick Kyrgios achieved the same in Washington 2022.
The win also sees the Australian climb to a new career-high of No 32 in the rankings while Ruud will climb one spot to No 11 in the new rankings on Monday. He also becomes fifth first-time champion on the ATP Tour this year after Luciano Darderi, Facundo Diaz Acosta, Jiri Lehecka and Alejandro Tabilo.
