Peniston ready to seize the moment at Sw19 after narrow loss

RYAN PENISTON did British tennis a service by keeping a domestic interest alive at Queen’s Club until the quarterfinal stage, and came close to sustaining it into this weekend.

The 26-year-old has starred amid a relatively unglamorous international field assembled for the Cinch Championships but just fell short yesterday when beaten 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 by Serbia’s world No 48 Filip Krajinovic.

The UK No 7 from Southend (right) has at least merited his wildcard into Wimbledon, and on the evidence of this week he will have a real chance of winning matches at SW19. He earned nearly £50,000 this week and is guaranteed to match that at SW19. He will not be blowing it: ‘I’ve been investing in myself and maybe a physical trainer might be able to travel with me on the road as much as possible,’ said Peniston.

A compact lefthander who might yet be underpowered on other surfaces, he roused the sundrenched crowd by breaking back for 3-3 in the decider before unravelling at the end. While Peniston’s progress has been an unexpected bonus, the tournament will be pleased their biggest attraction, defending champion and No 2 seed Matteo Berrettini, has made it to the latter stages. The strapping Italian, runnerup at Wimbledon last summer, recorded a comfortable victory over American Tommy Paul, winning 6-4, 6-2, and will face Holland’s Botic van de Zandschulp in the semi-finals today. Krajinovic will be up against Marin Cilic, winner at Queen’s in 2012 and 2018, who defeated Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori, conqueror of Jack Draper in the previous round.

At the Rothesay Classic in Birmingham, Katie Boulter’s impressive run came to an end when she was beaten 6-4, 6-1 by 2019 Wimbledon champion Simona Halep. British interest was maintained at the £100,000 Ilkley Trophy, which is guaranteed a home player in the final. In today’s last four Jodie Burrage will play 20-year-old Sonay Kartal from Sussex.