From an Aussie singles perspective, Jordan Thompson had Thursday at the Miami Open all to himself. On Grandstand with the sun blazing down in the middle of the day, he knew he was in for a tough day against inform local Marcos Giron who had made the fourth-round of Indian Wells last week, including taking the scalp of world No. 7 Casper Ruud.
It has been far from an ideal start to 2025 for the 30-year-old who has been dealing with Plantar Fasciitis. The condition saw him miss almost two months of action from mid-January to early March before returning at Indian Wells, where he went down in the first-round to Frenchman Corentin Moutet.
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He then went on to make the doubles final with Sebastian Korda in the desert which helped get some match play in that he was craving, but today he was looking for a singles win to ignite his season.
After finding himself a set down, the competitive beast nature of the Sydneysider dialled in, lifting his level to force a deciding set that was tight the whole way through, where he was clutch on the big points to prevail 3-6 6-4 7-5.
Thompson spoke to The First Serve post-match:
Thompson will return to court on Saturday against big serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, who he has had the measure of twice in tight affairs, and while it is no fun facing a player that serves 'big', the Lyon native knows from his past experience he is up against a tenacious returner who digs in and has found a way to curtail the serve.
Before that, can a quartet of Aussies seize the moment on Friday against seeded opponents?
Rinky Hijikata takes to centre court against 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic, who is more gettable than ever, having dropped his past three matches for the first time since 2018.
Nick Kyrgios is to face 22nd seed Karen Khachanov, with the pair having had a history playing a couple of five setters.
A great opportunity presents for qualifier Tristan Schoolkate, ranked 100 spots lower to see where his level is at against 18th-ranked Felix Auger-Aliassime, remembering that he has taken a set off Jannik Sinner at a major. The Canadian is certainly not Jannik Sinner.
After getting past 38th-ranked Anastasia Potapova, Kimberly Birrell now faces 29th-ranked Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine.
Yes, it is another tennis match in a long year, but let's hope the above can step up to the occasion as they look to raise the bar at 1000 level. Bring on Friday.
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