Holger Rune stumbles in grass switch, exits Queen’s Club to Jordan Thompson

Holger Rune bowed out of the cinch Championships in the first hurdle on Monday, suffering a 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3 upset to Jordan Thompson on Monday.

The No. 7 seed has battled inconsistent results throughout 2024 and couldn’t convert a set advantage against the Aussie after two hours and six minutes on Center Court in Queen’s Club.

Rune last played a tournament at Roland Garros, where he led eventual finalist Alexander Zverev by two sets to one before losing in the fourth round. After peaking at No. 4 last summer, the young Dane has seen his ranking dip from No. 7 to No. 15 in the last six months with early exits in three of the five Masters 1000 tournaments in 2024.

Still only 21, Rune was looking to make a seamless transition from clay to grass, having made his first Wimbledon quarterfinal in 2023 (losing to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz). Taking on Thompson for the first time, Rune scored the lone break of the opening set and served his way to a second-set tiebreaker only for his unseeded opposition to turn the tables in the Sudden Death, leveling the contest at one set apiece.

Thompson, who started the 2024 season with a stunning win over Rafael Nadal at the Brisbane International, is in the midst of a career-best season, peaking at No. 32 in the rankings back in February—scoring back-to-back wins over Zverev and Casper Ruud to win his first ATP title in Los Cabos—and winning his first Masters 1000 title in doubles with friend and neighbor Sebastian Korda.

Racing out to a 3-0 lead on Rune in the decider, the 30-year-old Aussie held his nerve to clinch his 11th career Top 20 victory and book a potential popcorn match against former world No. 1 Andy Murray. Murray will face Thompson’s countryman Alexei Popryin on Center Court on Tuesday in his second grass-court outing of the season, having exited in the first round of the BOSS Open in Stuttgart to Marcos Giron.

No. 3 seed Grigor Dimitrov made a bright start to his Queen’s Club campaign, making quick work of Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, 6-1, 6-2 to await the winner of an intriguing first-round clash between Sebastian Korda and Karen Khachanov.