Atlanta, United States, 28 July 2024 | Vivienne Christie

A top-30 singles breakthrough is in sight for Jordan Thompson, after the Australian survived his second three-set contest in as many days to progress to the final of the Atlanta Open final.

Thompson defeated Jerry Shang 6-3 4-6 6-3 to progress to a fourth ATP-level final at the ATP 250 tournament.

Should he lift a second singles trophy on the hard courts of Atlanta – having also done so in Los Cabos earlier this season – the 30-year-old Thompson will enter the world’s top 30.

Following earlier title runs in Atlanta for Nick Kyrgios and Alex de Minaur, he could also become the fourth Australian player to triumph at the Atlanta Open in the past eight years.

The fourth-seeded Thompson worked hard to secure victory over the 19-year-old qualifier, eventually doing so after two hours and 22 minutes.

It followed a marathon quarterfinal win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, with the three-hour, three-minute quarterfinal the longest match in the tournament’s history.

“I don’t know how I recovered from yesterday, but I showed some fight,” said Thompson, whose renowned fitness has come into play in some searing Atlanta conditions.

As he prepares to face either Arthur Rinderknech or Yoshihito Nishioka in tomorrow’s final, Thompson will also draw confidence from some solid serving throughout the tournament.

Having served 21 aces against Davidovich Fokina, he fired another 13 against Shang.

With a first-serve success rate of 75 per cent, Thompson also won 78 per cent of those points.

“I served really well today. I only was broken one time, held off a couple of games,” he commented in his post-match interview.

“I felt like my serve really kept me in it.”

It continues a season of impressive progress for Thompson, who peaked at world No.32 after his title breakthrough in Los Cabos.

The Sydneysider defeated No.1 seed Alexander Zverev and No.4 seed Casper Ruud to complete that winning campaign.

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