LONDON (AP) - The unheralded Australians who blew open the draw at Queen’s with first-round wins over Andy Murray and Milos Raonic came back down to earth on Thursday.
Jordan Thompson, a last-minute injury replacement in the field, and Thanasi Kokkinakis, ranked No. 698, both lost in the second round but will take home lasting memories from the Wimbledon warm-up.
Thompson, ranked No. 90, failed to follow up his huge upset of the top-ranked Murray in straight sets on Tuesday, losing to American player Sam Querrey 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-3.
Kokkinakis, who dispatched Raonic - last year’s runner-up at Wimbledon and Queen’s - also in straight sets, was beaten by Daniil Medvedev of Russia 6-2, 6-2.
Normality resumed on Thursday, with the underdogs falling short on another sunny day at the west London venue where David Beckham was among the spectators.
Fourth-seeded Marin Cilic avoided becoming the latest high-profile player to depart early by beating Stefan Kozlov 6-0, 6-4 and will play another American, Donald Young, in the last eight.
Cilic, the 2012 champion, is the leading player left following the exits of Murray, Stan Wawrinka and Raonic, the top three seeded players. Fifth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is also out.
“At a tournament like this, we have so many great grass-court players,” Cilic said of the slew of upsets so far. “Considering it’s also one of the first weeks on grass, it’s always very tricky.”
Cilic lost only 10 points in the first set and didn’t face a break point in the match against the 19-year-old Kozlov.
Feliciano Lopez was the last player through to the quarterfinals after beating Jeremy Chardy 6-1, 7-6 (4).
In the quarterfinals on Friday, Lopez meets Tomas Berdych, Querrey plays Gilles Muller while Medvedev takes on sixth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov.
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