Murray put in a sloppy and error-prone display against the 90th-ranked Thompson, joining Wawrinka and Milos Raonic in getting eliminated on a day of shocks at the Wimbledon warmup event. What they didn't expect to see though, was the was the massacre of the top three seeds who went tumbling out one after the other in their opening round contests.
Murray was scheduled to face Aljaz Bedene, but he withdrew with a wrist injury just hours before the match, leaving Thompson, who was at the west London venue as an alternate after losing in the qualifying rounds, to scramble to get ready for his unexpected date with destiny.
"I'm trying to get myself going week by week". I was always coming in, trying to sign in, and here I am in the draw.
It was Murray's first loss at Queen's since 2014, ended his 14-match winning run on grass dating to 2015, and is a setback to his preparation for Wimbledon, which starts on July 3.
"It's a big blow, for sure", Murray said, according to the BBC.
"I'm usually not a hot head, but in practice I was breaking racquets every day and that's not me", Kokkinakis said.
"There is no guarantees that I won't do well at Wimbledon but it certainly would have helped to have had more matches".
Murray, the defending champion who had been hoping to win his sixth Queen's title as he prepared to defend his Wimbledon crown, underperformed on the surface which he loves best.
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Second seed and world number three Wawrinka, runner-up in the French Open nine days ago, went down 7-6 (4) 7-5 to Spain's Feliciano Lopez.
Wawrinka also reported some pain in his left knee since switching from the clay at the French Open but indicated that it was not a major problem.
Thanasi Kokkinakis, meanwhile, was elated after securing what he described as the biggest win of his career by dumping out Raonic, who was a losing finalist at Queen's and Wimbledon past year - both defeats coming against Murray.
But despite some early struggles with his own service game in the first set where he saved eight break points, Kokkinakis held his nerve when it mattered in the tiebreak to take the early initiative.
Kokkinakis played only one match in 2016 because of a shoulder problem, and missed most of this year because of an abdominal injury.
"I've been out of the game for so long, it's huge for me", the 21-year-old, now ranked 698, said. I felt like some of those issues I was having for a long time were still there, and I just wasn't feeling great with my game.
Americans Sam Querrey and Stefan Kozlov, Frenchmen Julien Benneteau and Chardy, and Serbian player Viktor Troicki all advanced to the last 16.
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