TENNIS Quenn’s Club – Andy Murray, third seed and defending champion, was upset by Radek Stepanek, while the fifth seed Jo-Wilfred Tsonga fell by the hands of Marinko Matosevic in the third round of the Aegon Championships at Queen’s. From London, Giulio Gasparin
It surely was not the result the thousands British fans were expecting from the Wimbledon champion when they turned up in this lovely summer day in London.
Murray, who has just started a collaboration with former Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo, had won his opening match against Paul Henri Mathieu yesterday, but failing to impress.
The same impressions were there today as well, with the difference that his opponent this time had a whole different level of experience.
Stepanek saved eight set points in the first set, before finally closing it 12 points to 10 in the tiebreak, ever since, the match looked completely in his hands.
Murray looked uncomfortable moving on the grass, while the Czech kept putting pressure by charging the net continuously and with precision.
With a self explanatory 7-6 6-2, the third seed gave up his chance to defend his title, but he was not the only big name to leave the tournament today.
In the last single’s match of the day, Jo-Wilfred Tsonga suffered a clamorous upset from Australian Marinko Matosevic.
The unseeded player looked the most confident of the two and for the whole match, it seemed as if roles had been reversed: Tsonga was forced to long and difficult service games, while Matosevic was holding comfortably.
Despite the support of the crowd, the French man never found the groove out there and was forced to depart way sooner than he expected to with a 6-2 6-4 loss.
The second seed, Tomas Berdych, also had a hard time getting past Adrian Mannarino. As the 7-6 6-4 suggests, he needed to come out of a big fight with a tenacious and inspired opponent.
The same score was the one needed by the fourth seed, Grigor Dimitrov, to overcome Kenny De Scheeper and his big serves.
Only the top seed, Stanislas Wawrinka, shone in his two sets win over Sam Querrey. The double 6-2 leaves no doubts on the focus of the Swiss in this tournament, as he served and returned impressively, firing his backhand for winners left and right.
Tomorrow the order of play has the last eight players left battling for a place in the semifinals.
