| Aegon Championships – Andy Murray v Aljaz Bedene |
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| Venue: Queen’s Club, London Date: 16 June Time: 14:00 BST approx |
| Coverage: Live on BBC Two, Radio 5 live & 5 live sports extra, Red Button, Connected TVs and BBC Sport website. |
Andy Murray will face a British opponent for the first time in 10 years when he takes on Aljaz Bedene at Queen’s Club on Thursday.
The pair will meet in the second round of the Aegon Championships at about 14:00 BST.
Slovenia-born Bedene gained UK citizenship last year and, at 58th in the world, is the British number two.
Top seed Murray last faced a fellow Briton in 2006, when he lost to Tim Henman in Bangkok.
“It’s amazing really,” said Murray, who is trying to win a record fifth title at Queen’s Club.
“I think maybe Tim is the only one that I ever played. I never played Greg [Rusedski] in a competitive match.
“It’s been a long wait really.”
Bedene has practised with Murray several times since gaining citizenship last March, and the 26-year-old had hoped to be part of the Great Britain Davis Cup squad by now.
He was denied by an International Tennis Federation tribunal and Bedene hopes Thursday’s match will provide a chance to introduce himself to the British public.
“I don’t see any better court than a court in England, one of the biggest courts,” said Bedene.
“I’m just going to try and play my best tennis and show myself.”
Murray will be playing his second match since Ivan Lendl returned to his coaching team and the new line-up had time for a first full practice on Wednesday.
“It’s good to get a proper practice session in, hopefully a few hours on the court and work on a few things,” said the world number two.
“It’s great to have him back as part of the team.”
World number three Agnieszka Radwanska was knocked out of the Aegon Classic in Birmingham as American Coco Vandeweghe secured a hard-fought 7-5 4-6 6-3 win.
The Polish top seed had won all four of her previous matches between the pair.
British number one Johanna Konta’s match against Misaki Doi was delayed until Thursday by wet weather.
Naomi Broady and Tara Moore – the British numbers three and four – lost their matches against Daria Gavrilova and Tamira Paszek respectively.
Former Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard’s poor form continued as she lost to Latvian world number 82 Anastasija Sevastova in Mallorca.
The 22-year-old Canadian, who lost to Petra Kvitova in the 2014 final at the All England Club, has only been beyond the third round in two of the 13 tournaments she has played this year.
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Milos Raonic won an ace-laden first-round clash against Nick Kyrgios on Wednesday at the Aegon Championships to start his partnership with four-time former Queen’s Club champion John McEnroe in style. Third seed Raonic hit 20 aces and converted two of his 11 break point opportunities in a 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4 victory over Kyrgios, who struck 17 aces, in two hours and five minutes. The match had resumed at the start of the third set after it was suspended due to bad light on Monday night. Raonic will next play lucky loser Jiri Vesely in the second round.
Earlier in the day, wild card Kyle Edmund, who is part of the ATP’s Next Generation, recorded the biggest match win of his career. The 21-year-old Briton defeated eighth seed and last year’s semi-finalist Gilles Simon 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, in a rain-interrupted encounter over one hour and 43 minutes. It was only Edmund’s second grass-court win in nine tour-level matches.
Another British wild card Dan Evans came close to becoming the fourth local hope in the second round, but 34-year-old Paul-Henri Mathieu silenced supporters with a 7-6(8), 6-7(6), 6-3 win over two hours and 35 minutes. World No. 92 Evans hit 13 aces, while Mathieu saved seven of nine break points.
Canada’s Milos Raonic, watched by coach John McEnroe, beats Australia’s Nick Kyrgios 6-7 (5-7, 6-4 6-4 at Queen’s Club.
WATCH MORE: Murray beats Mahut in Queen’s opener
Britain’s Kyle Edmund earned the best win of his career as he beat French eighth seed Gilles Simon in the first round at Queen’s Club.
Edmund, 21, won 6-4 3-6 6-1 to join fellow Britons Andy Murray and Aljaz Bedene in round two of the Aegon Championships.
He will next face Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, who beat Britain’s Dan Evans 7-6 (10-8) 6-7 (6-8) 6-3.
“I really got my game on court and took it to him.” Edmund told BBC Sport.
It is the first time Britain has had three players through to the second round since Murray, Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski did so in 2005.
Simon, 31, is ranked 67 places higher than Edmund at 18 in the world but was second best for most of their delayed match, struggling badly with his ball toss on serve.
Edmund took advantage of a solitary service break to take the first set and led by a break early in the second, only to hand it straight back.
Simon looked to have taken charge when he clinched the second set but Edmund turned the contest around early in the third.
Facing three break points at 0-40, the Yorkshireman played superbly to win five straight points and – after a brief rain delay – powered through the remaining four games, sealing victory with a sweeping backhand.
“I thought in the back end of the second set I had a bit of a mental lapse, I played a sloppy game to get broken, so I was just trying to concentrate on what I was doing before,” added Edmund.
Evans, ranked 92nd could not make it four Britons in round two despite pushing world number 60 Mathieu.
The 26-year-old from Solihull failed to convert three set points in the first set, edged a similarly tight second in a tie-break, but one break was enough for Mathieu in the decider.
I had a lot of chances in all the sets,” said Evans.”It’s just a missed opportunity I think. It was a tight match and I came out on the wrong side.”
Canada’s Milos Raonic won the serving duel with Australian Nick Kyrgios to clinch a 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-4 victory.
The pair resumed at one set all after they ran out of light on Tuesday evening, and a final set tie-break appeared inevitable until the Kyrgios serve faltered.
Two double-faults handed Raonic an unexpected break at 4-4 and, after falling 15-40 behind, the third seed served his way out of trouble.
Raonic has brought John McEnroe into his coaching team during the grass-court season, and said the three-time Wimbledon champion is a keen practice partner.
“He’s been on the court the whole time,” said Raonic. “It’s been a lot of fun, he’s very competitive and it’s obviously benefiting me as well.”
Elsewhere American seventh seed John Isner hit 25 aces on his way to a 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 win over former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro.
| Aegon Championships |
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| Venue: Queen’s Club, London Dates: 13-19 June |
| Coverage: Live on BBC Two, Radio 5 live & 5 live sports extra, Red Button, Connected TVs and BBC Sport website. Click for more details |
Ivan Lendl is definitely more of a handshake than a hug kind of guy.
I think I’ve only ever had one or two hugs from Ivan – once after I lost my first Wimbledon final against Roger Federer, and maybe also when I won the US Open final. I don’t think there was any hugging when I won Wimbledon.
So it was with a straight handshake that we greeted each other at Queen’s Club on Tuesday morning – the first time we’d seen each other since the US Open last September.
We’d chatted occasionally over the past couple of years and I’d spoken to him a few times at the end of last year.
I was just staying in contact, seeing what he was up to, and I knew he’d done some trials with other players so was interested to know if he was considering getting back on the tour.
We know each other very well and it was good to have him back on Tuesday, it didn’t feel strange at all. Getting a win over someone as good on grass as Nicolas Mahut was certainly a great start.
Ivan is very clear and has strong opinions on things.
That’s important, I like that. I’d rather someone was very strong with what they’re saying and, if I disagree, that’s not a problem for him. He doesn’t take it to heart.
It’s a bit easier to communicate when you don’t feel like you’re going to upset someone.
I also enjoy his company and his sense of humour. He’ll chat about pretty much anything. He’s into his sports and has lots of good stories from when he was on tour.
It was a bit different back then with Johnny Mac [McEnroe] and Jimmy Connors around. There weren’t microphones and cameras everywhere. I’d say it was little bit more interesting in some ways.
Obviously there are rivalries on the tour now but, from the stories that I’ve heard, I’d say the players today are a lot more friendly with each other off the court.
It’s important that Ivan and my other coach, Jamie Delgado, spend time together over the next few days.
Ivan has arrived with his own clear ideas on what he thinks I need to be doing but one of his great strengths is he’s a very good team player. It’s crucial that he and Jamie see eye to eye.
Ultimately I spend 40 weeks of the year with Jamie, and he also needs to believe and buy into the stuff that I’m working on as well.
Jamie knows me well too, he’s spent pretty much every day with me for the last three or four months, and that can help Ivan.
So the two of them will chat about the things we need to concentrate on, especially this week on the grass. I’ll be told before practice that this is what we’re doing, I’ll give a bit of feedback about what I might want to focus on, and we’ll start work.
I’m the number two player in the world by a decent distance in terms of ranking points, so I’m not playing badly, but the goals remain the same as ever.
There are still things I feel I can improve upon, which I need to do if I want to get to number one in the world and try and win majors.
I believe that Ivan, along with the other guys I’m working with, can help me achieve that.
I think my team is very strong right now. I’ve been getting better over the past few months, I’ve improved some things, and hopefully I can get a few percent better over the next few months.
Winning a fifth title at Queen’s Club this week would be the perfect start.
Andy Murray was talking to BBC Sport’s Piers Newbery.
Former British number one Laura Robson will receive a wildcard for this year’s Wimbledon Championships, which begin on 27 June.
The 22-year-old, who reached 27th in the world rankings in July 2013, is fully fit after two injury-plagued seasons but is currently ranked 308th.
Other British players allocated wildcards are Liam Broady, Alex Ward, James Ward, Tara Moore and Katie Swan.
German Dustin Brown, who beat Rafael Nadal last year, is another wild card.
Swan, 17, qualified for the main draw at the Miami Open in March, while Hong Kong-born Moore, 23, reached the quarter-finals of the Nottingham Open at the weekend.
Daniela Hantuchova, the 33-year-old Slovakian who reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2005 but is now ranked 163, is another to receive an invitation to the Championships.
Also invited is 37-year-old Czech Radek Stepanek, a qualifier at the French Open who took Andy Murray to five sets at Roland Garros in the first round.
Six more wild cards will be announced in due course, three each in the men’s and ladies’ singles.
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