| Aegon Championships final |
|---|
| Venue: Queen’s Club, London Date: Sunday, 19 June Time: 14:00 BST |
| Coverage: Live on BBC One, BBC Radio 5 live, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app. Click for more details |
Britain’s Andy Murray will have to overcome the big serving of Canadian Milos Raonic if he is to win a record fifth Queen’s Club title on Sunday.
Top seed Murray and third seed Raonic meet in the Aegon Championships final at 14:00 BST.
A win would take Murray past four-time champions Boris Becker, Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick and Roy Emerson.
The final will also be the first meeting of former rivals Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe as opposing coaches.
Murray reunited with Lendl this week after the pair split two years ago, while McEnroe – another four-time winner at Queen’s – began working with Raonic last month.
“I’ve had very good results working with Ivan in the past, and I see no reason why that can’t be the same again this time,” said Murray.
“It would mean a lot – a lot of great players have played here over the years,” Murray said of a potential fifth Queen’s Club title.
The task ahead of him is clear, as Raonic goes into the final having won all 47 service games he has played this week. He offered up only one break point in his 6-4 6-4 win over Australian Bernard Tomic in their semi-final.
It will be their ninth meeting but first on grass, with Murray 5-3 ahead and having won the last four, including a five-set semi-final at this year’s Australian Open.
“The serve is the biggest strength in his game,” said Murray. “If I get any chances, it’s important to take them when they come, because there’s not going to be too many.
“There’s no question he can play well on grass. He made the semis of Wimbledon [in 2014], so he can play well on this surface.”
Raonic, 25, is through to his 18th ATP final but first away from hard courts, and the 6ft 5in Canadian feels the grass can help both players.
“For me it’s going to be about trying to dictate and play on my terms,” he said.
“For him it’s going to be trying to take away time from me and trying to make me play as much as possible, at least on my service games, and keep me moving laterally as much as he can.”
Lendl and McEnroe played each other 36 times over 12 years, with Lendl winning 21 times including a semi-final victory at Queen’s towards the end of their careers in 1990.
The fierce on-court rivalry has long since dimmed and McEnroe was full of praise after reacquainting himself with Lendl this week.
“He hasn’t changed at all,” McEnroe told the Tennis Podcast. “But he did a great job with Andy before. I think he was the difference in Andy winning two majors.”
Sunday’s finalists are less enthralled by the rebirth of a great tennis rivalry, with Raonic saying, “It’s not for me to worry about,” and Murray agreeing, “I don’t find it that interesting.”
The Scot added: “I’m playing Milos, I’m not playing John. Ivan is not on my side of the court.
“I’m sure the media will make a big deal of it, but for me as a player it’s not that interesting.”
However, if the normally reserved Raonic appears more pumped up than usual on Sunday, it will be an early sign that McEnroe is having an impact.
“John’s definitely helped me with the way I have approached things and probably been a bit more positive and energetic on the court,” said Raonic.
“He’s tried to make sure that I show my presence out there.”
Watch a selection of the best shots as Canadian Milos Raonic eases past Australia’s Bernard Tomic 6-4 6-4 in the semi-finals at Queen’s Club.
ALSO WATCH: Murray beats Marin Cilic
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American Madison Keys will face Czech Barbora Strycova in the final of the Aegon Classic in Birmingham on Sunday.
Keys, 21, reached the final with a 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-3) victory over Carla Suarez Navarro and in doing so broke into the world’s top 10 for the first time.
Strycova, 30, beat American Coco Vandeweghe 2-6 6-4 6-3 for her second final appearance in three years.
The occasion seemed to get to Vandeweghe, who burst into tears while sitting in her chair in the final set.
She said: “I’m not really a crier so I don’t know what that was about.
“There’s been a lot of things going on this week so I guess it was an accumulation of all of them.”
Watch highlights of Andy Murray’s semi-final win against Marin Cilic at Queen’s Club.
WATCH MORE: Murray beats Edmund
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Top seed Roger Federer and home hope Alexander Zverev have split sets in their semi-final clash at the Gerry Weber Open. Zverev took the opener 7-6(4), with Federer responding with a late break in the second for 7-5.
Zverev, the highest-ranked teen in the Emirates ATP Rankings, dropped just four points on serve in the 39-minute opener, firing 14 winners in total. Neither player earned a break chance and it was the German who notched the first mini-break for 3-1 in the ensuing tie-break. He would survive a break back from Federer and capture the set on his first set point.
Federer, who owns a 54-5 record in 14 appearances in Halle, saw his sets-won streak at the grass-court event snapped at 15 straight. He is bidding to reach the final for an unprecedented 11th time.
In the second set, they would remain on serve through the first 10 games. Two aces from Federer turned aside a pair of break points at 4-3 and three service winners from Zverev denied a trio of chances in the next game. But Federer would finally convert the first break of the match at 5-5, striking a sublime drop shot winner as Zverev slipped at the baseline. He would force a decider at the Gerry Weber Stadion.
At 19, Zverev is looking to become the first teen to upset a Top 5 opponent since Andy Murray fell to then 18-year-old Borna Coric in Dubai last year. Federer, meanwhile, has not lost to a teenager in nearly 10 years, having claimed his last 16 such matches. His most recent defeat came to Murray at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati in 2006
It is the second encounter in less than a month between the Swiss and the German, with Federer prevailing on the clay of Rome.
| Aegon Championships final |
|---|
| Venue: Queen’s Club, London Date: Sunday, 19 June Time: 14:00 BST |
| Coverage: Live on BBC One, BBC Radio 5 live, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app. Click for more details |
Andy Murray played a terrific final set to beat former champion Marin Cilic and reach the Aegon Championships final.
The Briton, seeded number one and trying to win a record fifth Queen’s Club title, won 6-3 4-6 6-3.
Murray is through to the final in his first tournament since reuniting with coach Ivan Lendl on Monday.
The Scot, 29, will play Canadian third seed Milos Raonic in Sunday’s final, which starts at 14:00 BST and will be on BBC One.
| Match stats | ||
|---|---|---|
| Murray | Cilic | |
| 14 | Aces | 8 |
| 1 | Double faults | 1 |
| 72 | First serve % | 58 |
| 80 | Pts won on first serve (%) | 63 |
| 48 | Pts won on second serve (%) | 62 |
| 3/10 | Break point conversion | 1/6 |
“I knew I was going to have to play really well to win and in the third set the intensity got raised, the level raised a little bit,” Murray told BBC Sport.
His final against Raonic – who beat Australian Bernard Tomic 6-4 6-4 – brings former playing rivals Lendl and John McEnroe into opposition as coaches for the first time.
“It’s not about who’s in the opposite corner,” added Murray.
“John was obviously an unbelievable player and a great, great grass-court player, so I’m sure he’ll help Milos a lot, but I’m happy with my team and we’ll get ready for tomorrow.”
Murray crushed a resurgent Cilic with some of his best tennis after being taken to a final set.
Cilic had seen five break points come and go before finally edging ahead in the second set – but was then swept aside by the world number two.
Murray had taken the first set with two breaks of serve, after holding off four break points in game three as his second serve came under pressure.
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The momentum switched in the second when Murray finally dropped serve at 3-3 and then failed to level from 0-40 in the next game.
Cilic, watched by his own ‘super coach’ in former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic, punched his fist as he tried to win a share of affection from the pro-Murray crowd.
The Scot remained focused on the job in hand, however, racing through his first service game of the decider and then breaking after the latest of several thumping cross-court forehands.
There was a long way to go from 2-0 but Murray would offer up just two points on serve – making 77% of his first serves – as Cilic was given nothing to work with.
Murray went close to sealing victory with another break in an eight-minute game but in the end could rely on the serve to wrap it up with no alarms.
“I think on this surface, the serve’s an important shot because when the first serve lands, you can get a lot of free points,” said Murray.
“That last game serving for it, to get three free points, two aces, when you’re trying to serve it out is big. Hopefully I can serve like that again tomorrow.”
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Roger Federer suffered a shock defeat to German teenager Alexander Zverev in the semi-final of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany.
Federer, who was bidding to win his ninth Halle singles title and his fourth in a row, lost 7-6, 5-7, 6-3.
Zverev, 19, claimed the biggest win of his career, becoming the first teenager to beat Federer since 2006.
Federer will begin his bid for an eighth Wimbledon singles title later this month.
Federer had previously won 15 straight sets at Halle but Zverev, standing 6′ 6″ and ranked 38th in the world, dropped just four points on serve in the opener and won it 7-4 in a tie-break.
The Swiss hit back, claiming the first break of the match at 5-5 and serving out the second set.
But Zverev – born in Hamburg to Russian parents – broke in the sixth game of the decider and held on to win in just over two hours, becoming the first teenager to beat Federer since Andy Murray, then aged 19, in Cincinnati in 2006.