Europe, 27 October 2020 | Leigh Rogers

Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan

Jordan Thompson had to dig deep to earn his place in the second round of an ATP 250 tournament in Nur-Sultan.

Brit Cameron Norrie held a match point at 6-5 during a second set tiebreak in their opening-round match, but Thompson recovered to record a 5-7 7-6(6) 6-2 victory.

The No.60-ranked Thompson lost only six points on serve in the deciding set, stepping up when the pressure was on.

He joins fellow Australian John Millman, who received an opening-round bye as the fourth seed, in the second round.

Thompson plays either Finnish qualifier Emil Ruusuvuori or Kazakh wildcard Timofey Skatov next.

Millman will face Spanish veteran Fernando Verdasco in the second round – a rematch of their Cologne meeting last week, which the Australian won.

Verdasco advanced with a 6-4 7-6(5) victory against Australia’s James Duckworth in the first round.

Marc Polmans and Alexei Popyrin’s hopes of progressing to the main draw were dashed, with both beaten in the final qualifying round.

Results:

Men’s singles, first round
[4] John Millman (AUS) v Bye
[8] Jordan Thompson (AUS) d Cameron Norrie (GBR) 5-7 7-6(6) 6-2
Fernando Verdasco (ESP) d James Duckworth (AUS) 6-4 7-6(5)

Men’s singles, final qualifying round
[5] Aslan Karatsev (RUS) d [4] Alexei Popyrin (AUS) 6-3 6-3
[3] Yuichi Sugita (JPN) d [7] Marc Polmans (AUS) 3-6 6-2 7-6(5)

Coming up:

Men’s singles, second round
[4] John Millman (AUS) v Fernando Verdasco (ESP)
[8] Jordan Thompson (AUS) v TBC

Men’s doubles, first round
[2] Max Purcell (AUS)/Luke Saville (AUS) v [WC] Andrey Golubev (KAZ)/Alekandr Nedovyesov (KAZ)

Vienna, Austria

Alex de Minaur has withdrawn from this week’s ATP 500 tournament in Vienna, citing personal reasons.

RANKING MOVERS: De Minaur on the rise

John Peers is now the only Australian competing at the event.

Coming up:

Men’s doubles, first round
John Peers (AUS)/Michael Venus (NZL) v Kevin Krawietz (GER)/Andreas Mies (GER)