Sports

Querrey rocks Wawrinka at Queen's

June 20, 2018
America's Sam Querrey reacts to Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka during their match at the ATP Queen's Club Tennis Championships in west London Wednesday. — AFP
America's Sam Querrey reacts to Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka during their match at the ATP Queen's Club Tennis Championships in west London Wednesday. — AFP

LONDON — Stan Wawrinka's Wimbledon preparations suffered a blow as the Swiss star crashed to a 7-5, 6-7 (3/7), 6-1 defeat against Sam Querrey at Queen's Club Wednesday.

Wawrinka has struggled to return to peak form since sustaining a left knee injury last year that required two operations and wiped out the second half of the Swiss star's season.

Still hampered by the problem this term, Wawrinka was sidelined again for three months in between a second round exit at the Australian Open and a first round loss in the French Open.

The three-time Grand Slam champion had swatted aside British youngster Cameron Norrie in the first round of the Wimbledon warm-up at Queen's.

But Wawrinka faded badly in the final set against Querrey as the American world number 13 condemned the 33-year-old to his seventh defeat in his last nine ATP Tour matches.

It is a major setback for Wawrinka ahead of the July 2 start of Wimbledon, where he has never made it past the quarterfinals.

Querrey, who won Queen's in 2010, will play Croatian top seed Marin Cilic in the last eight.

Cilic maintained his mastery over Luxembourg's Gilles Muller, hitting back to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in their latest big-serving battle.

Chasing his second Queen's title and his fourth final appearance, Cilic once again frustrated Muller 12 months after beating him in the final set in both the Wimbledon quarterfinals and Queen's semi-finals.

Cilic, who lost last year's Queen's final against Feliciano Lopez, hit 19 aces to 17 from Muller as he made the quarterfinals for the seventh time.

American prodigy Frances Tiafoe moved into his first ATP Tour grass-court quarterfinal with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 win against Argentina's Leonardo Mayer.

Tiafoe, ranked 62nd, is looking to add a second ATP title to his maiden success at Delray Beach in February.

The 20-year-old out-lasted Mayer to stop the world number 38 building on his surprise first round victory against third seed Kevin Anderson.

Tiafoe next faces France's Jeremy Chardy, who beat Russia's Daniil Medvedev 7-6 (8/6), 6-3.

Svitolina in quarters

World No. 5 Elina Svitolina continued her good form on grass ahead of Wimbledon, easing her way into the quarterfinals of the Nature Valley Classic in Birmingham Wednesday.

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.

The 23-year-old, chasing her first grand slam title, will hope to improve on her last-16 appearance at last year's Wimbledon, when she lost to Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko.

"I was expecting a good match and she (Cornet) was producing some great rallies," Svitolina said.

"She plays well against the top players, she beat a couple of them in the past, and she really steps up her game. I'm very happy with the performance today."

Japan's Naomi Osaka was forced to retire due to an abdominal injury in her last-16 clash against Dalila Jakupovic, with the Slovenian qualifier leading 6-3.

"It's never nice to win when somebody's injured," the 27-year-old Jakupovic said. "I was trying to focus on my play, and I didn't really look on her side. I hope (Osaka's) going to be better for the next tournaments."

Jakupovic will next take on Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova, who mounted a comeback to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 against world number 56 Kristina Mladenovic.

Rybarikova, who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals last year, converted five break point opportunities and struck five aces in the encounter, which finished in just under two hours. — Reuters


June 20, 2018
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