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 quarter-finals. 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 quarter-finals 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 quarter-finals for the seventh time. American prodigy Frances Tiafoe moved into his first ATP Tour grass-court quarter-final 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.
Sugita stuns French Open runner-up Thiem in Halle
Japan’s Yuichi Sugita shocked Dominic Thiem to send the Austrian out in the second round of the ATP Halle grass court event on Wednesday, 6-2, 7-5,
Third seed Thiem, French Open runner-up to Rafael Nadal earlier this month, was joined on the sidelines of the pre-Wimbledon tuneup by Japanese seventh seed Kei Nishikori, a 6-2, 6-2 loser to Karen Khachanov.
In 2017, the 36th-ranked Russian also beat Asia’s top player in the second round at Halle, when Nishikori was forced to quit with a hip injury. Thiem switched over to grass this week and came to the court with a first-round win in northern Germany at a venue styled as a smaller replica of the All England club’s iconic Centre Court at Wimbledon. The Austrian was on the back foot early as he lost the opening set to his 52nd-ranked opponent. Sugita was unable to convert on three match points but hammered his sixth ace to claim victory on a fourth after 88 minutes.
The Japanese will be playing a grass court quarter-final for the second time in his career when he takes on American qualifier Denis Kudla, who defeated Greek teenager Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-4. Against Thiem, who leads the ATP with 36 match wins this season, Sugita kept up the pressure on his rival’s serve, forcing the Austrian to save 10 of 13 break points before dropping serve in the last game. Nishikori has a mixed record at the Wimbledon tune-up event, dominated over the past decade and a half by Roger Federer with nine titles.
The world number 27 Japanese is coming back from wrist injury problems and working to rebuild his ranking, which once placed him firmly in the Top 10.
Svitolina eases into Birmingham quarters
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 yesterday. 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.
French Open champ Halep to miss Eastbourne
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 lifting the silverware at Roland Garros with a three-set final victory over Sloane Stephens. It was an emotional moment for Halep, who had lost her three previous Grand Slam finals and trailed by a set and a break against Stephens before fighting back.
But the Romanian world number one will go into Wimbledon, which gets under way on July 2, without a competitive match on grass. “I’m very sorry to announce that I’m withdrawing from next week’s Nature Valley International,” Halep tweeted.
“I was experiencing Achilles tendon pain and inflammation during the French Open and it has yet to fully recover. I’ve been advised by my doctors that it needs more rest while continuing treatment. I loved competing at Eastbourne last year and hope to see you at this wonderful event next year.”
Halep’s withdrawal leaves four top-10 players in the Eastbourne event, including last year’s champion Karolina Pliskova and runner-up Caroline Wozniacki.