Thompson, Vukic blast Wimbledon gloom over Kyrgios

Australia’s gloom over Nick Kyrgios’ withdrawal has been swept away by his mate Jordan Thompson’s brilliant first-day comeback win and Aleksandar Vukic’s perplexing late-night victory.

After Kyrgios had withdrawn on the eve of the tournament with a wrist injury, Thompson, who had tried to help his compatriot get fit for the tournament by training with him at the All England Club, produced one of the best wins of his career. on Monday against Brandon Nakashima.

Then, in the twilight of a rain-splattered opening day on the same Court 9 where Australian fans had camped out for much of the day, the crowd was rewarded with a fine win by another Sydneysider as Vukic beat Germany’s Daniel Altmaier 6-3 7-. 6 (7-1) 3-6 7-5.

Thompson was coming from within two sets of a grand slam for the third time in his career, emerging in his rain-interrupted match with a 2-6 2-6 6-4 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 victory after it appeared that he was swept away at Wimbledon last year by an American who scared Kyrgios.

It was the perfect refresher for the nine-man Australian challenge after an early but predictable setback when Max Purcell battled a broken leg, losing in just over an hour and a half 6-3 7-5 6-4 to Russia’s Andrey Rublev. .

Storm Hunter, who played in the Queensland qualifier, also suffered a heavy loss, despite not playing badly at all. He lost 6-3 6-1 to an inspired Wang Xinyu in a repeat of his first-round match at the Australian Open, which the Chinese had also won. No. 73.

But pride of place went to Thompson, who set up a dream second-round meeting with defending seven-time champion Novak Djokovic after the Serbian maestro opened the defense of his crown with a 6-3 6-3 7-6 (7-4) win over Argentina’s Pedro Cachin.

And he hoped his victory would make up for Kyrgios’ withdrawal with a wrist injury on the eve of the tournament.

“Last night I went to bed earlier and when I got to court this morning someone told me he’s withdrawn – and that’s incredibly disappointing,” Thompson said.

“I know he had problems when we were training. But he made the final last year and he has the best chance to win this because he was so close last year.

“It’s not good news. Hopefully I’ve recovered a bit (of the disappointment), but I don’t think anything will match the disappointment of his withdrawal.”

It could have been the new-look, clean-cut Thompson, the famously monstrous Aussie who shed his trademark mustache and beard over the weekend for his seventh Wimbledon crack.

But it was the same old ‘Tommo’ spirit as he fought back just when it looked like he was going to go early. He earned a two-set victory just as he had done against Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego at the US Open last year.

Australian fans had packed Court 9 for three players on a long wet, windy day and after Hunter’s loss, which left Daria Saville in the women’s draw, they were left to cheer on home No. 87 Vukic, arguably the best of her career over Altmaier, ranked 21 places higher .

It was the first time he managed to reach the second round of a grand slam tournament outside his home Australian Open.