Cilic secures place in last eight at Queen’s

Marin Cilic hopes he is sowing the seeds of another assault on the Wimbledon title after hitting his stride at Queen’s Club.

The Croatian, who is the topranked player at the Fever-Tree Championships, moved into the quarter-finals after coming from a set down to beat Gilles Muller 4-6 6-3 6-3.

Cilic is a real threat on the grass and was the losing finalist in this competition and at Wimbledon in 2017, and is a contender to go one better this time around.

“It’s always a pleasure to come back, I always play great tennis here,” he said.

“It was not easy, he broke me in the beginning of the match and served out the first set.

“I managed to keep my composure and managed to serve well. I was not giving him too many chances and waiting for my own opportunities.

“It’s last year’s form, it continued this year, grass suits me greatly for my game, my shots hitting flat and deep through the court and serving well.

Sam Querrey, 2010 winner, made it through to play Cilic in the next round after he overcame Stan Wawrinka 7-5 6-7 (3/7) 6-1.

Frances Tiafoe won a three-set contest with Leonardo Mayer 6-4 2-6 6-4 to set up a last-eight clash with Jeremy Chardy.

The Frenchman beat young Russian Daniil Medvedev 7-6 (8/6) 6-3.

Alison Riske won all five games played yesterday to dump second seed Angelique Kerber out of the Mallorca Open in the first round.

The match was postponed because of darkness at 1-1 in the deciding set on Tuesday night and there was no stopping American Riske on the resumption as she completed a 5-7 6-2 6-1 victory.

In the second round, top seed Caroline Garcia reached the quarter-finals for the third straight year, the 2016 champion beating Johanna Larsson 6-4 6-3. She next faces American teenager Sofia Kenin, who was a 2-6 6-4 6-4 winner over Alison van Uytvanck.

Naomi Osaka could be a doubt for Wimbledon after the Japanese player was forced to retire during her second-round match at the Nature Valley Classic in Birmingham with an abdominal injury.

The 20-year-old appeared fine to start with against qualifier Dalila Jakupovic but began to struggle towards the end of the first set. After losing it 6-3, Osaka had treatment on court but decided she could not continue, sending Jakupovic through to her first quarter-final at a WTA Premier event.

There she will play Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova, who again showed her grass-court pedigree in coming from a set down to defeat Kristina Mladenovic 3-6 6-2 6-1.

Second seed Elina Svitolina had only won one match in three previous appearances at Edgbaston Priory but reached the quarter-finals for the first time with a 6-4 6-2 victory over France’s Alize Cornet.

In the last eight the Ukrainian will face one of the breakthrough stars of 2018, Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnescu, who defeated Petra Martic 4-6 6-3 6-2.