Queen’s Club

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Andy Murray set for Emotional Return at Queen’s Club

Posted by Admin on June 28, 2019
Posted in: ATP. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

Tennis fans from all over the world will delight at the sight of Britain’s Andy Murray stepping out into a competitive arena for this first time since undergoing hip resurfacing surgery back in January.

Embed from Getty Images

The former world No. 1 will line up alongside Feliciano Lopez in the doubles event at the Fever-Tree Championships at Queen’s. How he performs on the grass in London will play a big part in helping him decide whether to return to singles action this summer.

Back to the scene of first ATP win

The three-time Grand Slam winner won his first-ever ATP title at Queen’s Club and it has proved to be his most successful tournament with five wins, the last coming against Milos Raonic in 2016. The Briton announced he had been pain-free since recovering from the operation and has made good progress on the practice courts.

The doubles event will give him a chance to return to competitive action without putting himself through the strain of the singles event which features a strong line-up this year. Defending champion Marin Cilic will be joined by Juan Martin del Potro, Kevin Anderson, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Stan Wawrinka, Milos Raonic and Denis Shapovalov at the men’s ATP World Tour 500 series event.

Wimbledon singles return unlikely

Murray is expected to play more doubles tennis at Eastbourne and Wimbledon but is unlikely to return to singles action until after the US Open. Despite that, some bookies still have him the listed in the Wimbledon odds for the singles events with prices of around 33/1 available.

Age no barrier

With no exact time scale set for his singles return, it will be a case of watching and waiting for fans of the 32-year-old. However, if he can remain pain-free, there is no reason he cannot compete at the top level again. Rafa Nadal has just won his 18th Grand Slam aged 33 after coming back from injury and Roger Federer was 36 when he won the 2018 Australian Open, his 20th major title. Meanwhile, 2019 Australian Open champion, Novak Djokovic, is just a week younger than Murray and still ranked No. 1 in the world.

Six months out

Murray last played a singles match at the Australian Open in January and many believed that would be his last ever match as a top-level pro – especially in light of the emotional speech he gave when he bowed out of the tournament. However, having decided to undergo surgery, the popular Scot could have added years to his career.

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Federer Dominates Halle for Seventh Time, Dimitrov Becomes All-Surface Champion

Posted by Admin on June 16, 2014
Posted in: ATP, Halle. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , .

Federer Dominates Halle for Seventh Time, Dimitrov Becomes All-Surface Champion

ATP Halle

gerry-weber-open
Roger Federer did what he usually does in Halle: take the title. This time it was a 7-6, 7-6 victory over surprise finalist Alejandro Falla, who, at age 30, was contesting just his second career ATP level final. He drops to 0-2 in his career in ATP finals.

Federer needed 3 sets against Joao Sousa in round 2, then got a walkover against Rendy Lu, and beat Kei Nishikori in straights before the final. Falla beat Lukasz Kubot in 3 sets, Robin Haase and Peter Gojowczyk in straights and Philipp Kohlschreiber in 3 from a set down to reach the final, his big upset coming against the German on home soil.



Andre Begemann and Julian Knowle beat Marco Chiudinelli and Federer to take the doubles title, as Fed was denied the sweep by the German/Austrian duo in a close 3 set match.

All-Surface Champion

All-Surface Champion

ATP London Queens
Grigor Dimitrov won his first grass court title, and completed the trifecta of titles across all the surfaces this season. The Acapulco and Bucharest champion added the Queens club hardware to his trophy case with Maria Sharapova in the crowd, slipping past Feliciano Lopez 6-7, 7-6, 7-6 and 8-6 in the final set tiebreak in a nail-biting, very competitive final.

Grisha beat James Ward and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in straights this week, got a walkover against Alex Dolgopolov and won 2 and 4 over Stan Wawrinka to reach the final. Lopez, who found some renewed form this week, reaching his first final since this time last season, beta Julian Benneteau in 3 sets, Lleyton Hewitt in an upset in straights, Kenny De Schepper in 3 sets, Tomas Berdych in straights and Radek Stepanek in the same fashion to reach the final.

In both tournaments this week, the player who played the fewest matches en route to the final was the champion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2C0BM2eHpY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WZ572AWZgY

Alex Peya/Bruno Soares beat Jamie Murray/John Peers to capture the doubles hardware.

—Steen Kirby, Tennis East Coast

Murray Wins 3rd Queens, Federer Takes 1st Title in 2013 and 6th Halle Trophy

Posted by Admin on June 16, 2013
Posted in: ATP, Halle, London. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Murray Wins 3rd Queens, Federer Takes First Title in 2013 and 6th Halle Trophy

Andy Murray, 2012 ATP Cincinnati, Courtesy Courtney Massey

ATP London (Queen’s Club)

Andy Murray won his third Aegon Championships crown with a hard fought 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Croat Marin Cilic. It was Murray’s third title of the 2013 campaign and he got it done beating Nicolas Mahut, Marinko Matosevic, Benjamin Becker and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 3 sets.

Cilic beat Ivan Dodig, Feliciano Lopez in 3 sets, Tomas Berdych, and Queens Club legend Lleyton Hewitt in 3 sets to reach the final, his 2nd final of 2013 (Zagreb). As a sidenote, Hewitt upset seeded and younger players Grigor Dimitrov, Sam Querrey and Juan Martin Del Potro to reach the semis.

The Bryans won their 8th doubles title of 2013, and are dominating almost every event they enter with Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares their latest final victims.

ATP Halle

gerry-weber-open

Roger Federer won his first title in 10 months 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 over Mikhail Youzhny. The win is the 77th career title for Federer and Number 6 in Halle. He now has the 4th-most overall titles won in the Open era and he got there beating Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, double-bageling Mischa Zverev, and beating Tommy Haas in 3 sets.

Colonel Youzhny beat Dani Gimeno-Traver, Kei Nishikori in 3 sets, Phillip Kohlschreiber and Richard Gasquet.

Santiago Gonzalez and Scott Lipsky won the doubles title over Daniele Bracciali and Jonathan Erlich.

—Steen Kirby

2012 ATP London Preview #AEGONChampionships

Posted by Admin on June 10, 2012
Posted in: Aegon Classic, ATP. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

2012 ATP London (Queen’s Club) Preview

By Steen Kirby, TennisEastCoast.com
AEGON Championships
ATP World Tour 250
June 11- June 16 2012
€ 625,300

The larger of the grass court events this week, Queens Club in London features a fine field that includes 3 players in the top 10: home favorite Andy Murray, Jo Wilfried-Tsonga and Janko Tipsarevic.

Top 8 seeds (who all receive 1st round byes)
1: Andy Murray
2: Jo Wilfried-Tsonga
3: Janko Tipsarevic
4: Gilles Simon
5: Feliciano Lopez
6: Marin Cilic
7: Andy Roddick
8: Julien Benneteau

1st round matchups to watch:

Liam Broady vs. Gilles Muller

The young British wild card Broady, who was Junior Aussie open doubles champion and a Wimbledon junior finalist last year in singles will make his first ATP tournament appearance against veteran serve and volleyer Muller. Much is expected of the young Brit and an early upset would give his career a nice spark.

Vasek Pospisil vs. David Nalbandian

Vashy and Nalby both lost in the 1st round in Paris and both are looking to bounce back on the grass this week. Nalbandian will be a heavy favorite, but hopefully Vashy can give a good go of it.

Ivo Karlovic vs. Lleyton Hewitt

Karlovic and Hewitt, a couple of wily veterans, will replay their Wimbledon 2003 battle on the grass once again (albeit at a very different time in their career). Karlovic will have the advantage of his smashing serve while Hewitt continues his comeback efforts. He lost in 4 sets to Martin Klizan in Paris.

Sam Querrey vs. Olivier Rochus

The American Querrey, who was once a hot shot on the ATP tour but is now more of a grinder trying to break through, will take on veteran serve and volleyer Rochus in a clash of style and size. “Q-Ball” will tower over Rochus, but that may not be enough to give him the victory as the Belgian is full of fight.

“Disheveled, Disenchanted and Disgusted”?
Tell us how you really feel, Shriver.

Top Half:

Andy Murray will begin his quest for a 3rd Queens club title in 4 years. He will start against either grass courter Nicolas Mahut or Guillimero Garcia Lopez, and then he could face the tricky Gilles Muller or youngster Grigor Dimitrov.

Feliciano Lopez, no slouch on grass himself, will open against either Steve Darcis of Belgium or Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, and then a possible match up with big serving 9 seed Kevin Anderson, who could cause him trouble.

Gilles Simon will face Ernest Gulbis or Simone Bolleli and then a motley crue of either Alex Bogomolov, Martin Klizan, the man who beat Lleyton Hewitt in Paris, Adrian Ungur, who took a set off Federer in Paris or veteran Xaiver Malisse.

Andy Roddick, who bowed out in a sad showing against Mahut at Roland Garros, will start off another go on the grass against a qualifier or Edourd Roger-Vasselin before possibly facing fellow veteran David Nalbandian, who is in slightly better form. Argentine Leonardo Mayer, youngster Vasek Pospisil, who lost a tough one against Vasselin in Paris in 5 sets or Malek Janziri.

Murray and Simon would be favored to advance here, but Lopez and Nalbandian, the wily vets, could do some damage as well.

Bottom Half:

Tsonga, who lost a heart wrenching match to Djokovic in Paris where he had 4 match points and was unable to convert any of them, losing in 5, will face Brits Jamie Baker or Oliver Golding. After that he’d likely face veteran Go Soeda, Bjorn Phau, Frank Dancevic or Ivan Dodig.

Julien Benneteau will face either Paolo Lorenzi or Tatsuma Ito. After that, he’s looking at either Olivier Rochus, the serve and volleying Belgian, Sam Querrey, Denis Istomin or a qualifier. Rochus, if he can get through Querrey and then likely Istomin, is a lurking threat in this part of the draw.

3 seed Janko Tipsarevic will face either Dimitry Tursunov or a qualifier and then either extremely dangerous Ivo Karlovic, Lleyton Hewitt, Igor Kunitysn or Lu-Tsen Hu.

Should he get through that 6 seed, Marin Cilic poses his own threat.  Cilic will face either fellow big man Matt Ebden or Matthias Bachinger. Marcos Baghdatis will play Fredico Gil and then either Lukas Rosol or Victor Hanescu to set up a clash with Cilic.

Dark Horse: David Nalbandian

While Nalbandian hasn’t played great recently, he faces the advantage of not having to play anyone early on who has been playing that well, either. He has shown he can do damage on the grass in the past. He will be favored over Pospisil and Mayer/Jaziri and then could knock off a struggling Roddick or another lower-ranked player. That sets him up to do battle with Simon, and while he would be an underdog, you can’t put it past him to grab the upset.

Predictions:

Semis:
Murray d. Simon
Tsonga d. Cilic

Final:
Tsonga d. Murray

These matches will likely come down to the head game, as Murray has been (as Pam Shriver described him) “disheveled, disenchanted and disgusted” for almost the entire clay court season. The season culminated in a gashing loss to Ferrer in 4 sets in Paris, while Tsonga choked away his big chance against Djokovic in the Paris quarters and let the home country down. Not to mention the home pressures on Murray, who seems to just be a lot more of a headcase than he used to be. Ivan Lendl may be to blame.