Holger Rune Upset by Jordan Thompson in Early Exit from Queen’s Club

An inconsistent season continued when the 2023 Wimbledon Quarterfinalist lost in a three-set defeat in the initial rounds of the Cinch Championships.

On Monday, Holger Rune exited the Cinch Championships at the first hurdle after losing 4-6,7-6 (4),6-3 to Jordan Thompson. Throughout 2024, the number seven seed has had an erratic form and failed to take advantage of a set lead in a match against his Australian counterpart lasting two hours and six minutes at the Center Court, Queen’s Club.

The last time Rune competed in a competition at Roland Garros, he defeated Alexander Zverev who would later emerge as the tournament finalist after he took a lead in the first three sets but subsequently lost in the fourth round. For the last six months, the twenty-year-old Danish player has seen his ranking decline from number seven to fifteen after reaching the highest position since moving into professional tennis in June last year as well as in 2024 exiting early from three out of five Masters 1000 tournaments.

Despite being only 21, Rune sought to make a smooth move from clay to grass courts after he got to his first Wimbledon quarterfinal in 2023, where he lost to Carlos Alcaraz who eventually won the event. Playing against Thompson for the very first time, Rune managed to break him only once in the opening set then went ahead and won the second set on his serve before being turned down by the underdog when he won a sudden death in the following set, equalising the match at one set all.

Having begun the 2024 season by shockingly knocking Rafael Nadal out in the Brisbane International, Thompson is having the time of his life this year because it is the only one when he has built his way up to No. 32-mark in February; this being done after defeating Zverev consecutively in addition to capturing his first ever ATP tournament trophy at Los Cabos while also claiming a maiden Masters 1000 double title alongside Sebastian Korda-a close friend who lives next door.

In the decider, the 30-year-old Australian managed to take his own time to clinch his 11th career Top 20 victory to book a potential popcorn match against former world No 1 Andy Murray after a 3-0 run on Rune. Having been eliminated by Marcos Giron in the first round BOSS Open at Stuttgart, Murray is facing Centre Court where he will face Thompson’s compatriot Alexei Popryin on grass courts for a second time this season.

Grigor Dimitrov, the No. 3 seed, started his Queen’s Club campaign in style, beating Adrian Mannarino from France 6-1, 6-2 to face the victor of an exciting first-round encounter involving Sebastian Korda and Karen Khachanov.