Japan's Yuichi Sugita shocked Dominic Thiem to send the Austrian out in the second round of the ATP Halle grass court event on Wednesday, 6-2, 7-5, Third seed Thiem, French Open runner-up to Rafael Nadal earlier this month, was joined on the sidelines of the pre-Wimbledon tuneup by Japanese seventh seed Kei Nishikori, a 6-2, 6-2 loser to Karen Khachanov. In 2017, the 36th-ranked Russian also beat Asia's top player in the second round at Halle, when Nishikori was forced to quit with a hip injury. Thiem switched over to grass this week and came to the court with a first-round win in northern Germany at a venue styled as a smaller replica of the All England club's iconic Centre Court at Wimbledon. "Sugita played really well, and gave me little chance to attack," Thiem said.

"I was missing a few percentage points on my game. "I was not great on returns and was sruggling on serve. He completely deserved the victory." The Austrian was on the back foot early as he lost the opening set to his 52nd-ranked opponent. Sugita was unable to convert on three match points but hammered his sixth ace to claim victory on a fourth after 88 minutes. The Japanese will be playing a grass court quarter-final for the second time in his career when he takes on American qualifier Denis Kudla, who defeated Greek teenager Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-4.