Querrey ousts Wawrinka at Queen’s
LONDON: Stan Wawrinka showed glimpses of his Grand Slam winning form but was bundled out of the ATP 500 Fever-tree Championships by former Queen’s Club champion Sam Querrey on Wednesday.
The Swiss squandered several set points in the opening set and although he took the second on a tiebreak he capitulated in the decider after dropping serve at 1-2, losing 7-5 6-7(3) 6-1.
His frustration boiled over as he buried his racket frame into the lush centre court turf, taking a sizeable divot in the process, before snapping it over his knee.
MURRAY UNDECIDED ON WIMBLEDON BID
LONDON: Andy Murray will wait to see how his body responds to his first competitive match for 11 months before deciding whether to compete at Wimbledon.
Murray was beaten 2-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 by Australia’s Nick Kyrgios in the Queen’s Club first round as he returned from the hip injury that required surgery in January .
“I’ll kind of need to wait and see what happens the next few days and chat with my team about that, because I don’t know exactly what’s best for me just now,” he said.
SVITOLINA EASES INTO QUARTERFINALS
BIRMINGHAM: World number five Elina Svitolina continued her good form on grass ahead of Wimbledon, easing her way into the quarter-finals of the Nature Valley Classic in Birmingham.
The second seed Ukrainian found her rhythm early in the contest and powered past France’s Alize Cornet 6-4 6-2 in one hour and 22 minutes.
INJURY RULES HALEP OUT OF EASTBOURNE
LONDON: French Open champion Simona Halep will miss next week’s Wimbledon warm-up at Eastbourne after suffering an Achilles problem.
Halep won her first Grand Slam title earlier this month after at Roland Garros with a three-set final victory over Sloane Stephens.
KICKER SLAPPED WITH SIX-YEAR SUSPENSION
LONDON: Argentina’s Nicolas Kicker has been suspended for six years and fined $25,000 by the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) after being found guilty of match-fixing and other offences.
The 25-year-old, who reached a career-high ranking of 78 in June 2017, was found guilty of attempting to fix two ATP Challenger matches in Italy and Colombia in 2015.