Queen's: Kyle Edmund loses to Stefanos Tsitsipas in first round
Britain’s Kyle Edmund was knocked out of Queen’s 6-3 7-5 in the first round by Greek top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Trailing 6-3 3-3 when bad weather ended play on Wednesday, Edmund was unable to turn the match around on Thursday as British interest in the singles ended.
Edmund, 24, saved six match points but the Greek clinched victory with a backhand down the line.
Tsitsipas will play his second-round match against Jeremy Chardy later, with Andy Murray’s doubles match following.
Murray, 32, is making his return to tennis alongside Spain’s Feliciano Lopez after five months out following a hip operation.
The pair’s match against Colombia’s Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah is the fifth match on centre court at the Fever-Tree Championships in London.
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Edmund was making his competitive return after retiring from the French Open with a knee injury earlier this month.
The Yorkshireman did not look his sharpest in the first set on Wednesday as he struggled to cope with Tsitsipas’s power and precision.
Flashes of sunshine greeted them when they returned on Thursday lunchtime as Edmund looked to make a quick start.
The world number 30 was unable to convert a break point in the seventh game and it proved costly when Tsitsipas eventually ended his resistance by taking his seventh match point when a Hawk-Eye replay showed his backhand had just clipped the line.
Champion Cilic and second seed Anderson both beaten
Defending champion Marin Cilic was a surprise second-round casualty at the Fever-Tree Championships.
The Croatian fifth seed lost 6-4 6-4 to Queen’s Club debutant Diego Schwartzman.
Argentine Schwartzman, 26, secured early breaks in both sets to wrap up only his third career win on grass.
Second seed Kevin Anderson, who beat Britain’s Cameron Norrie in round one, lost in three sets to France’s Gilles Simon.
The big-serving South African, last year’s Wimbledon runner-up, has missed most of the season because of an elbow injury and his rustiness told as Simon ran out a 6-1 4-6 6-4 winner.
Organisers have a packed schedule to get through on Thursday after Tuesday’s play was washed out and only a handful of matches were completed on Wednesday.
Three first-round matches were still to be completed at the start of play on Thursday.
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