In a shocking day at Queen’s, both Nadal and Murray crashed out of the tournament. World No.1 Nadal and Queen’s Club defending champion Andy Murray were eliminated by their opponents in a rain interrupted day in London. With their exits, none of top six seeds are in the semifinals of the Queen’s Club grass-court tournament, which is considered a prelude to Wimbledon.
Spaniard Rafael Nadal suffered his first defeat in 25 matches when he lost to his compatriot Feliciano Lopez in the quarterfinal match. Nadal’s last defeat came at the hands of Andy Roddick in the Miami semi-final in March. Nadal, who earlier had some issues with his hamstring, was not fully fit for the match. He even received medical treatment in his third round victory over Uzbek Istomin. And it was obvious from his play against Lopez that he had some fitness issues, as he was extremely uncomfortable in his movement. Nadal lost the match to Lopez with the score of 7-6 (7-5), 6-4. Lopez started the match confidently and fully exploited Nadal’s lack of rhythm as he took the match to tie-break. Lopez held his nerve to seize the set-point which he converted with great resolution. Nadal, who is famous for his resiliency, was far from his optimum as Lopez broke the top seed early in the second set. Nadal fought back in his last effort by breaking Lopez’s serve, but 31st seed Lopez capitalized on Nadal's poor serve in the subsequent set to seal the second set and hence the match.
Meanwhile, in another shocker, Mardy Fish of USA defeated defending champion Andy Murray of Britain with the score of 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7-2) in a rain-interrupted third round match. Resuming on the second day, Fish shocked Murray when he sealed the second set and took the third set to tie-break. He then added further insult on the Brit when he wrapped up the tie-breaker by breaking Murray’s serves on regular intervals. On the same day, Fish won another match when he beat French Michael Llodra in the quarter-final match as organizers tried to put the tournament back on schedule courtesy of rain interruptions. Fish won the match against Llodra with the score of 6-4, 6-4. Murray joins six other big names which are eliminated from Queen’s lawn this year. The list includes four-time Queen’s champion Andy Roddick, Serbian Djokovic, Marin Cilic, Gael Monfils and Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal.
On the other hand, in Halle, Germany, Roger Federer continued his winning streak in the tournament. He is now unbeaten in his last 28 matches at Halle. His latest victory came over Philipp Kohlschreiber in a quarter-final match. He defeated the German with the score of 7-5, 6-3. Federer has won the Gerry Weber Open at Halle on his last five attempts. He also holds an impeccable 75-1 record on Halle’s grass surface since his first outing in 2003. Following Federer’s foot steps, Hewitt also booked his place in the last four, as he overcame German wild card entrant Andreas Beck. Hewitt defeated the German with the score of 7-6 (7-0), 6-1 in a match in which the Australian hit a total of 13 aces. Similarly, Philipp Petzschner of Germany defeated Slovakian Lukas Lacko with the score of 6-4, 6-3. Joining Petzschner in the semi-final will be another German and son of legendary tennis player Boris Becker, Benjamin Becker when he overcame compatriot Mischa Zverev in an convincing win with the score of 7-6 (7-4), 6-0.
Lastly, on the women’s circuit, three more players booked their place in the semi-final alongside former top seed Russian Maria Sharapova. In first quarter-final match, Li Na of China booked her place in the last four when she defeated Estonian Kaia Kanepi with an easy 6-4, 6-2 win. Li Na will now face French Aravane Rezai for a place in the final. Rezai defeated Italian Sara Errani with the score of 7-6 (7-2), 7-5 to book her place in the last four. Sharapova will be facing American qualifier Alison Riske in the semi-final. Riske defeated Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium with the score of 6-7 (7-5), 6-4 and 6-3 in an epic match.
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