Johnson Earns Biggest Career Win In London
Johnson Earns Biggest Career Win In London
American moves into the second round on the grass
American Steve Johnson earned his first career Top 10 win on Monday, sweeping World No. 10 Richard Gasquet 7-6(2), 6-2 at the Aegon Championships in London. The 26-year-old had been 0-13 against Top 10 foes before Monday.
Gasquet had a set point on his racquet before a lengthy rain delay halted the match at 5-all. After the rain stopped, Johnson took the tie-break and earned two breaks of serve in the second set to move into the second round.
Last year’s runner-up Kevin Anderson qualified at The Queen’s Club by beating Czech Jiri Vesely 7-6(2), 7-6(5). In last year’s final, Anderson fell to Andy Murray, who also returns to the ATP World Tour 500 event this year.
Canadian Vasek Pospisil also qualified on Monday, overcoming World No. 136 Tobias Kamke of Germany 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
The Aegon Championships was voted Tournament of the Year in its category for the third consecutive year by players in January. This year’s field also features World No. 5 Stan Wawrinka and Milos Raonic, No. 9 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Marin Cilic, the event’s 2012 champion, Roberto Bautista Agut, John Isner and Gilles Simon round out the remaining seeds in London.
Two former champions – Grigor Dimitrov (2014) and Sam Querrey (2010) – also will play this week.