Shanghai Masters: Thompson crashes out, Wawrinka robbed

Jordan Thompson’s title hopes at the Shanghai Masters came to an abrupt end on Monday in China, with the Australian losing 6-3, 6-2 to Tallon Griekspoor.

The No.26 seed barely made an impact during the one-hour, 14-minute match, failing to break Griekspoor’s serve and hitting only four winners.

Thompson had been in strong form heading into the Asian leg of the ATP Tour, reaching the round of 16 at the US Open and making deep runs in four of his previous six tournaments.

Just two Australians remain in the Shanghai Masters draw, with qualifier Aleksandar Vukic and Montreal Masters winner Alexei Popyrin scheduled to play their third-round matches on Tuesday. Both are long shots to win the title according to tennis bookmakers, with Popyrin returning $151 and Vukic at $301.

Carlos Alcaraz continues to dominate Shanghai Masters outright betting odds, with the Spaniard paying $2.60 to win at Neds.

Wawrinka Involved in Bizarre Incident

The biggest headline of the day in Shanghai was a bizarre incident that led to three-time grand slam champion Stan Wawrinka crashing out of the tournament on Monday.

Wawrinka faced young Italian Flavio Cobolli in a tight encounter that featured only one break of serve over the two-hour, 30-minute match. After splitting two tiebreak sets, an error occurred with the score when Wawrinka was serving at 0-1 in the third set.

The Swiss veteran won the point, but umpire Carlos Bernardes – distracted by requesting electrolytes for Cobolli at the next change of ends – mistakenly recorded the point in Cobolli’s favour. Cobolli went on to break Wawrinka at 30-40 and win the set 6-3, with the error going unnoticed until after the match had ended.

Cobolli will now face No.4 seed Novak Djokovic in the third round, and he is a $7 underdog to prevail.