Top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas survived a day of shocks at the Queen’s Club grasscourt championships as he claimed two victories yesterday to reach the quarter-finals.
First the Greek 20-year-old returned to court to complete his weather-delayed first-round clash with Britain’s Kyle Edmund before scraping past Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.
Chardy served for the match in the second set but world number six Tsitsipas hung in to level before sealing a 4-7, 7-6 (0), 7-6 (4) victory to prolong his debut appearance at the prestigious Wimbledon warm-up event.
Defending champion Marin Cilic, seeded five, was earlier cut down to size by Argentine Diego Schwartzman in the second round, the big-serving Croat slumping to a 6-4 6-4 defeat.
The result was all the more surprising as it was only the diminutive Schwartzman’s third career victory on grass.
Second seed Kevin Anderson, runner-up at Wimbledon last year, went down 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 to Gilles Simon while another Frenchman, Nicolas Mahut, put paid to the hopes of three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka.
Mahut won 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (2) but there was an awkward moment for the veteran Frenchman as he was given a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct after leaving a ballgirl in tears when he struck her with a ball.
The qualifier, ranked down at 191 but always a threat on grass, had just dropped serve early on and decided to send down a practice delivery that clipped the ballgirl in the head as she went about her duties at the back of the court.
It was clearly accidental but followed another Mahut incident two days ago when he skidded over chasing a wide ball and ploughed into another unfortunate ballgirl.
Mahut and Simon meet for a place in the semi-finals.
Tsitsipas belatedly moved through to the second round as he finished off Edmund 6-3, 7-5 having come off the previous night at 3-3 in the second set. He needed seven match points to end home interest in the singles draw.
He will face Canada’s Felix Auger Aliassime, who beat Australia’s Nick Kyrgios 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 7-5, in what was the second match on a thankfully dry day for both the players.
Kyrgios had earlier beaten Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena in straight sets but became embroiled in a row with umpire Fergus Murphy and was warned for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas celebrates after winning a game against France’s Jereme Chardy at the ATP Fever-Tree Championships at Queen’s Club in London yesterday. (AFP)
