Norrie handed Queen’s wild card as Watson ends drought in Germany
Rising British star Cameron Norrie has been awarded a wild card into the singles main draw of the Fever-tree Championships at Queen’s next month.
British No 3 Norrie, who was born in South Africa to a Scottish father and a Welsh mother, has made significant strides since turning professional last year, including a Davis Cup victory over world No 13 Robert Bautista Agut of Spain and rising to a careerhigh No 102 in the world rankings. The 22-year-old will also be a main draw entrant in this year’s French Open at Roland garros, which s tarts on Sunday.
Speaking to the official Lawn Tennis Association website, GB Davis Cup captain Leon Smith said: “Cam has really pushed on over the last year and shown that he can mix it with the top players on any given day, whether it be his performances in Davis Cup or qualifying for the bigger ATP events. He now needs to start winning matches regularly in main draws, make the Top 100 and push on from there. A wild card into the Fevertree Championships at The Queen’s Club is a great opportunity to do exactly that.”
Four-time champion Lleyton Hewitt will join forces with Nick Kyrgios after the Australian duo received a doubles wild card for the Queen’s tournament, which will take place from 18-24 June. Hewitt retired from singles play in 2016 after winning the title in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2006, but he will return to the scene of some of his greatest performances, including his 6-4, 6-4 win over Pete Sampras in the 2000 final as a 19-year-old.
It will mark only the second time that Hewitt and Kyrgios have played together at a tournament. The other was in Montreal in 2015.
Meanwhile, Heather Watson ended her eight-match losing streak just in time for the start of the French Open. Watson’s last win came in the quarterfinals of January’s Hobart International. However, a run of eight straight defeats came to an end as the British No 2 beat Kateryna Bondarenko 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/3) to reach the second round of the Nuremberg Cup.
Currently ranked No 86 in the world, Watson will now at least take some form into the French Open.
In Nuremberg, Watson will now face Hungarian qualifier Fanny Stollar who beat fourth seed Shuai Zhang 6-2, 6-2.