Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun led 6-3, 1-2 against third seed Janko Tipsarevic at the Queen’s Club tournament on Thursday when play was abandoned because of rain.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga suffered a miserable third-round exit from the tournament, as the world No. 5 was beaten 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 7-6 (7/5) by Croatia’s Ivan Dodig and suffered a serious finger injury in the process.
With top seed Andy Murray, fourth seed Gilles Simon, four-time Queen’s champions Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt already eliminated from the grass-court event, it seemed Tsonga had a golden opportunity to go all the way.
However, the Frenchman, seeded second, produced a lethargic display and world No. 69 Dodig took full advantage to claim one of the best wins of his career.
Tsonga reached the final last year, losing to Murray, and became the first player ever to beat Roger Federer from two sets down at a Grand Slam in the Wimbledon quarter-finals a few weeks later.
With that kind of pedigree on grass, Tsonga was the clear favorite. However, he was outplayed by Dodig and to make matters worse, he slipped and fell on his right hand in the final set, causing damage that could rule him out of Wimbledon.
“I think it’s serious. I didn’t do an exam for the moment, but it sounds very bad,” Tsonga said. “Of course it’s not a good day. It’s important to play many matches and to get ready for Wimbledon. It affects my confidence a bit.”
Tsonga must have hoped his experience would prove decisive when the first set went to a tiebreak.
Instead, the former Australian Open finalist produced an error-strewn effort that allowed Dodig to secure the lead.
Faced with the prospect of a surprise exit, Tsonga finally began to find his touch and he unfurled some sumptuous winners to break for a 4-3 lead in the second set.
One more break from Tsonga leveled the match at one set all, but Dodig dug deep in the decider and saved two break points at 2-3, before Tsonga was forced to save one himself with a flashing winner at 5-5.
Again it needed a tiebreak to seperate them and on match point Tsonga paid the price for a loose forehand that flew long and gifted the win to Dodig.
Dodig will face 2010 Queen’s winner Sam Querrey in the quarter-finals after the US player defeated Julien Benneteau 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
Earlier, South Africa’s Kevin Anderson advanced to the last eight for the first time after defeating Spanish fifth seed Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (12/10), 7-6 (9/7).
Anderson, seeded ninth, had never been past the last 16 in his previous four visits, but he finally broke that sequence with an impressive victory over world No. 17 Lopez to set up a quarter-final clash with Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov.
Dimitrov ended Nicolas Mahut’s hopes of emulating his 2007 Queen’s final appearance with a 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 victory.
Play was abandoned for the day at 6:30pm because of heavy rain, with David Nalbandian’s match against Edouard Roger-Vasselin yet to start.
? HALLE OPEN
Reuters
French Open champion Rafael Nadal made a successful transition from clay to grass with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko on Thursday to join his great rival Roger Federer in the quarter-finals of the Halle Open.
Spaniard Nadal, playing at Halle for the first time since a first-round exit in 2005, needed a little time to settle before overcoming Lacko in 76 minutes to set up a meeting with champion Philipp Kohlschreiber, who defeated Lukasz Kubot 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 6-3.
Five-times champion Federer, who has the road leading to the tournament stadium named after him, won 6-4, 7-5 against Florian Mayer to maintain his unbeaten record over the German, having won their three previous matches.
Second seed Federer next faces Canadian Milos Raonic in the Wimbledon warm-up event.
TAIWANESE EXITS: Fellow Australian Christopher O’Connell joined Tristan Schoolkate as a winner following his 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Tseng Hsin-chun Australian qualifier Tristan Schoolkate on Monday dispatched rising Brazilian talent Joao Fonseca 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 at the ATP Toronto Masters, ensuring a breakthrough into the world top 100. The 24-year-old from Perth moved to 98th in the ongoing live rankings as he claimed his biggest career victory by knocking out the ATP NextGen champion from November last year. Schoolkate, son of a tennis coach, won his first match over a top-50 opponent on his sixth attempt as he ousted the world No. 49 teenager from Brazil. The qualifier played a quarter-final this month in Los Cabos and won through qualifying for his
Top seeds Alexander Zverev of Germany and American Coco Gauff on Tuesday advanced to the third round of the Canadian Open after both players were pushed hard by their opponents. World No. 3 Zverev, playing in his first match since his first-round loss at Wimbledon, was far from his best, but emerged with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 win over Adam Walton under the lights in Toronto. Momentum shifted firmly in Zverev’s favor when he won a 52-shot rally in the first set tiebreak and he sealed the win on a double fault by the Australian in the second set. “It was a very
Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen on Thursday said that he is staying with the Red Bull team next year, ending months of speculation over his future. “Some people just like to stir the pot, some people just like to create drama, but, for me, it’s always been quite clear, and also for next year,” the four-time champion said ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. “I’m discussing with the team already the plans — the things that we want to change for next year, so that means that I’m also staying with the team for next year,” he said. Verstappen has a contract with
Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko upset top-seeded Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday night to reach the National Bank Open quarter-finals. “Your support was incredible,” Mboko told the crowd in French after a chorus of “Ole, Ole, Ole” chants echoed around the venue. “I’m really happy to win today ... It’s incredible. I’m so happy to beat such a great champion.” Gauff dropped to 2-3 since winning the French Open. She followed the major victory with opening losses in Berlin and Wimbledon, then overcame double-fault problems to win two three-set matches in Montreal. Gauff had five double-faults on Saturday after having 23 in
RSS