18 | June | 2018 | Tennis Courts Map Directory

Defending Doubles Champs Survive In London

Jun182018

Zverev brothers oust third seeds in Halle

Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares were fully tested at the Fever-Tree Championships on Monday, saving seven of nine break points to oust Frenchmen Adrian Mannarino and Fabrice Martin 4-6, 7-6(3), 10-8.

The defending champions have won their opener at The Queen’s Club in each of their three appearances as a team. Three of their six victories at the event as a pair (6-1) have come in Match Tie-breaks. This year’s Acapulco titlists, who have lifted seven tour-level trophies together, next face Novak Djokovic/Stan Wawrinka or Tomas Berdych/Fernando Verdasco.

Murray, a home favourite, was not the only Brit to advance on the first day of action. Kyle Edmund and Neal Skupski earned their first-ever doubles victories at the tournament, beating Grigor Dimitrov and Ryan Harrison 3-6, 7-6(2), 10-3.

Skupski

The Brits overcame a 0-3 deficit in the second set and saved one match point while serving at 5-6 before winning 18 of the match’s final 23 points.

Top seeds Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic also had to battle through a Match Tie-break, defeating Spaniards Felciiano Lopez and Marc Lopez 6-4, 6-7(5), 10-7. Marach/Pavic, who have won four tour-level titles this year will play Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who moved past Kevin Anderson and Julien Benneteau 6-3, 7-6(3).

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Zverev Brothers Upset Third Seeds In Halle
Alexander Zverev and Mischa Zverev surprised No. 3 seeds Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer 6-7(7), 7-6(2), 10-8 at the Gerry Weber Open on Monday. The brothers brought a three-match losing streak as a pair to an end, advancing to face Raven Klaasen/Michael Venus or Tim Puetz/Jan-Lennard Struff.

Queen's Club 2018: Britain's Cameron Norrie loses to Stan Wawrinka

Posted: Jun 18, 2018

2018 Fever-Tree Championships on the BBC
Venue: Queen’s Club, London Dates: 18-24 June
Coverage: Watch live on BBC Two, BBC iPlayer, BBC Red Button, Connected TVs, the BBC Sport website and app. Coverage times

British number two Cameron Norrie was knocked out in the first round of the Fever-Tree Championships at Queen’s Club by Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka.

Three-time Grand Slam champion Wawrinka, who has dropped to 261 in the world after injury, won 6-2 6-3 against the world number 80.

He next faces 2010 champion Sam Querrey, who beat 19-year-old Briton Jay Clarke 6-3 6-3.

Britain’s Andy Murray makes his return to competitive action on Tuesday.

Croatian top seed and 2012 champion Marin Cilic progressed with a 6-3 6-4 win over Spain’s Fernando Verdasco.

Sixth seed Jack Sock of the United States lost 7-5 6-3 to 22-year-old unseeded Russian Daniil Medvedev.

Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller won 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (8-6) against Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov.

Watch live BBC TV coverage from Queen’s Club
How I recovered from lowest point’ – Murray’s BBC Sport column
Live scores, schedule and results

Wawrinka too strong for Norrie

Norrie, 22, has enjoyed a rapid rise this year, climbing into the top 100 for the first time and reaching his first ATP Tour semi-final on the clay in Lyon.

On his way to the last four he earned the biggest win of his career against American world number 10 John Isner, then pushed French number one Lucas Pouille in their French Open second-round match.

But going into Monday’s match against Wawrinka, Norrie had won only two tour-level matches on grass.

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Victory was only Wawrinka’s second on grass in the past three years.

However, his greater pedigree – and power – told as Norrie was far from his best.

Norrie saved a break point in his first service game, only for the powerful Wawrinka to take another opportunity for a 3-1 lead.

Wawrinka dominated the first set, based on some big serving and dominant groundstrokes, and broke again in the final game to wrap up the opener in 27 minutes.

The former Australian Open, French Open and US Open champion broke again early in the second set, going on to seal a comfortable win in less than an hour.

I’m happy to be back healthy and fit – Wawrinka

Wawrinka sat out the second half of the 2017 season after needing knee surgery following his early Wimbledon exit last year, before suffering another setback earlier this year.

Victory over Norrie was only his fifth since his first-round SW19 defeat by Daniil Medvedev in July.

“I’m really happy. It was a really good start – it is never easy, the first match on grass. I served well and I’m happy to be back healthy and fit,” said Wawrinka, who lost in the first round of the French Open last month.

“In general it has been improving and now I feel really good on the court. I feel strong physically.

“I know I will have some ups and downs. I need to be patient, especially mentally, and ready to accept the frustration of not playing my best tennis.”

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Queen's 2018: Would technology temper the tennis tantrums?

Posted: Jun 18, 2018

Fingers jabbing towards umpires, angry words and racquet smashing are familiar sights on the tennis court.

On Sunday, Britain’s Johanna Konta was the latest player to vent her fury over a line call, shouting at an umpire while playing in the final of the Nature Valley Open in Nottingham: “It’s an absolute joke. You’re making decisions that affect our lives. Do you fully understand that?”

The computer technology exists to coolly, calmly and robotically decide whether a ball was in or out on every line call – removing the need for human line judges on court – but then, where would be the fun in introducing that?

“I prefer to have them there so I can yell at them,” joked Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza when asked if it was time to scrap line judges in favour of electronic line calls with an automated voice.

“Nah, I don’t yell but for sure it would be awkward, you’d miss the people that have the eyes to see it. It would be scary, I’m not a technology person, I don’t have a computer, I don’t like all these things.”

Line judges were replaced by Hawk-Eye technology at the Next Gen Finals in Milan last November, meaning that for the first time at an ATP event the umpire was the only official on court.

Each computer line call was called out by the technology and was final. Players were not able to challenge calls as they do at most tournaments, because the need to do so via Hawk-Eye video replays – where they are allowed three unsuccessful challenges in a set – was deemed redundant.

ATP chief Chris Kermode liked what he saw in the experiment, saying it had sped up play as players heard the call and just got on with it.

But maybe players do not just want to do that – some prefer to make more of an impression. Quite literally in the case of former world number one Karolina Pliskova, who bashed a hole in an umpire’s chair with her racquet frame at the end of a match in Rome last month.

The Czech had argued with officials after having a smash called out, when serving at 30-30 and five games all in the final set against Greece’s Maria Sakkari.

TV replays appeared to show her shot had landed in but reviews on clay rely on physical marks and none were found so Sakkari was awarded the point and went on to win the match.

Pliskova received a four-figure fine for her actions, but would still not have wanted a fully electronic system.

“It should be like it is as it is still a sport and I would not change this,” she told BBC Sport in Birmingham, where she, Muguruza and Konta are part of a strong field playing at the Nature Valley Classic this week as part of their Wimbledon preparations.

“The linesmen do mistakes but you have the challenge so you can challenge the ball if you were not sure if it was out or not. To have everything without people would be a different game.

“I think everybody has problems with referees, with some calls, and that’s why we have the challenge. Mistakes are just part of the game so I would not change it.”

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