Tennis: Fairytale return for Murray as he reaches doubles final

LONDON -- Former world number one Andy Murray's dream return continued on Saturday as he and Feliciano Lopez progressed to the doubles final at Queen's, beating the defending champions in the semi-finals.

The 32-year-old, who is making his first competitive appearance since what he termed "life-changing" hip surgery, and his partner Feliciano Lopez came through 7-5, 6-7 (5/7), 10-7 against John Peers of Australia and his Finnish partner Henri Kontinen.

"It was a good match. We obviously had some chances to finish it in the second set," said Murray. "I'm very happy to be in the final."

Murray, who said he felt zero pain in his hip but that his back was stiff and his arm tired from serving, said he had not expected to get this far.

"I didn't have high expectations at all," he said.

"Yeah, I think things have probably got a little bit better maybe with each match, as well.

"I didn't expect to be playing in the final, no, that's for sure."

Murray, who was surprised to hear Maria Sharapova had offered to be his partner in the mixed doubles at Wimbledon despite him slamming her when she failed a dope test, had attracted a visit from former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho whilst he was practicing before his match.

"Yeah, he just wished me well," said Murray.

"Was asking a bit about my hip and asked him what he was up to, try and see if he was going to come to Arsenal," added the avid Gunners fan with a smile.

Murray may have been the reason for keeping the stands packed -- although they thinned out a bit by the end -- but he owed a lot to an extraordinary effort by 37-year-old Lopez.

The Spaniard effectively stayed on center court for most of the day -- winning his singles semi-final in three sets.

Then he and Murray polished off their unfinished quarter-final before a marathon effort in the doubles semi-final.

Lopez said that if anyone had told him he would have played this much a week ago he would have said they were "crazy."

He was also generous in his praise of Murray.

"What Andy showed me basically is he is a great champion," said Lopez. "I mean he went through two surgeries. He's here playing again.

"I'm learning a lot of things from him, no? He's so competitive, he loves winning."

- 'What was I doing' - 

Lopez -- who Murray may regret overlooking as his doubles partner for Wimbledon -- earned a pat on the back from Murray.

Murray chastised himself for a mess he made of one shot in the first set, asking: "What was I doing?"

However, his brilliance was epitomized when he fired an unstoppable forehand winner off a Kontinen serve to secure a break point and they moved 6-5 ahead when Peer fired long.

Murray raised his fist and said "come on" as he ran back to his seat, but Lopez stayed standing, his herculean efforts perhaps beginning to tell.

Murray's serve in the following game came under pressure, but he showed great agility and touch to race to the ball and stroke it down the line, earning a grin from Lopez.

That moment of inspirational play boosted them and they sealed the set 7-5.

Murray and Lopez were constantly chatting to each other, even as one waited to receive serve, and something the Spaniard said provoked the two-time Olympic champion into a wry smile.

Lopez was broken early in the second but as the sun went down behind the clubhouse -- the spectators wrapping themselves in towels to keep warm -- they broke back and then broke again, leaving Murray to serve for the match.

However, he was broken and the defending champions went on to win the tie-break.

Murray and Lopez, though, were not to be denied and, despite some nervy moments in the champions tie-break, they came through and just about had the energy to embrace each other and raise a hand to the crowd at the end.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Relentless Cilic edges Kyrgios to set up Djokovic final

LONDON - Top seed Marin Cilic ended Nick Kyrgios's entertaining run at the Fever-Tree Queen's Club championships with a 7-6(3) 7-6(4) victory on Saturday as he reached the final for the fourth time.

A high-level semi-final full of thundering serves boiled down to two tiebreaks in which the ice-cool Cilic proved the more composed player to set up a Sunday showdown with former world number one Novak Djokovic.

Unseeded Djokovic was given some trouble by Jeremy Chardy in the opening set but prevailed 7-6(5) 6-4 to take his record over the Frenchman to 11-0 and 26-0 in sets.

World number six Cilic was out-aced 16-11 but never gave Australian maverick Kyrgios a sniff of a service break.

"It's special to play here and I've played great tennis throughout the week and it's great to have another shot at the title," the 2012 Queen's champion said on a sunny centre court.

"Nick is serving so good and it was tough to get a look on the service returns. As expected a couple of points made the difference in the tiebreaks."

Kyrgios, ranked 21, had served 82 aces on his way to the semi-final and was in scintillating form against defending champion Feliciano Lopez on Friday.

He could not quite reach that level again but was still happy with his grasscourt form having lost narrowly to Roger Federer in the Stuttgart semis last week and beaten former Wimbledon champion Andy Murray for the first time at Queen's.

"The last couple of weeks, I feel pretty untouchable on serve. Today I just didn't have any chances to break at all," the 23-year-old told reporters.

POTENT WEAPON

His serve was a potent weapon again and in the eighth game of the first set he bashed down three consecutive aces before playing one of his trademark 'tweeners' to level at 4-4.

Cilic, runner-up to Roger Federer at Wimbledon last year and this year's Australian Open, was relentless, however, and seized on a couple of Kyrgios groundstroke errors in the opening tiebreak to pocket the first set.

Kyrgios saved the only break points of the match, recovering from 15-40 at 2-2 in the second set.

As the set sped towards another tiebreaker, the pressure was beginning to tell on Kyrgios as he yelled "I can't focus".

Sure enough a Kyrgios double-fault at the start of the tiebreak gave the initiative to Cilic who quickly built a 6-3 lead and although he netted on his first match point he converted the second when Kyrgios skewed a backhand wide.

While Kyrgios will be frustrated, his level during the week augurs well for his Wimbledon prospects.

"I've played some good tennis, have played some tough opponents. I played a lot of three-setters and a lot of tennis. That's a positive. My body feels pretty good," he said.

Wildcard Djokovic seemed agitated at times as Chardy, who has won 12 of 13 matches on grass over the past three weeks, proved a tricky opponent.

The Frenchman made several errors in the tiebreak though and was broken at 4-4 in the second -- the only break of serve in the day's two semi-finals -- before Djokovic sealed the win.

He has a 14-1 winning record over Cilic but might be second-favourite on Sunday with the Croatian in superb form.

"I will play with two racquets! One in the right hand and one in the left hand!" Djokovic said when asked how he would cope with the power of Cilic's serve. 

(Reporting by Martyn Herman Editing by Edmund Blair and Jon Boyle)

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Wawrinka ends wretched run with solid start at Queen's

LONDON -- Stan Wawrinka kicked off his Wimbledon preparations with a 6-2, 6-3 win over British youngster Cameron Norrie in the Queen's Club first round on Monday.

Wawrinka has struggled to return to peak form since suffering a left knee injury last yeat that required two operations and wiped out the second half of the Swiss star's season.

Still hampered by the problem this term, Wawrinka was sidelined again for three months in between a second round exit at the Australian Open and a first round loss in the French Open.

The 33-year-old arrived in west London having lost six of his last seven ATP Tour matches and, given grass has never been Wawrinka's favourite surface, he might have feared more misery at the pre-Wimbledon event.

But the three-time Grand Slam champion had an obliging opponent in wild card entry Norrie.

Wawrinka hardly had to break sweat to see off Norrie and next faces former Queen's winner Sam Querrey of the United States, who beat British wild card and ATP Tour debutant Jay Clarke 6-3, 6-3.

"Mentally it's tough when you see how far you are and how long it will take. Still now, it's not easy," Wawrinka said of his injury woes.

"It takes time to get where you want to be. I need to be really patient with myself, to accept less in a way, because, when you win Grand Slams, I always expect so much from myself."

In other first round action, top seed Marin Cilic made a flying start to his bid for another strong grass-court campaign with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Spanish veteran Fernando Verdasco.

Former US Open champion Cilic is bidding for a second Queen's title and a fourth appearance in the final after losing last year's title match against Feliciano Lopez.

The world number six, who finished as Australian Open runner-up in January, was back on grass in London for the first time since his tearful injury-plagued Wimbledon final defeat against Roger Federer last year.

Cilic made short work of Verdasco and his second round opponent is Luxembourg's Gilles Muller, who beat rising Canadian star Denis Shapovalov 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (8/6).

Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, the biggest names in the Queen's draw, are both due in first round action on Tuesday.

Djokovic plays Australian qualifier John Millman and Murray will make his first appearance for 11 months after finally recovering from a hip injury that needed surgery in January.

- 'Awesome' Murray -

The former world number one faces a tricky opener against talented but temperamental Australian Nick Kyrgios, who pushed Roger Federer to three sets before narrowly losing in the Stuttgart semi-finals at the weekend.

Murray, a two-time Wimbledon winner, has admitted he doesn't have great expectations at the start of his comeback after so long on the sidelines.

Finally free of a nagging elbow injury, world number 21 Kyrgios has grander plans -- starting with securing his first win over his good friend at the sixth attempt.

"I feel good. My elbow is fine and I played three quality matches in Stuttgart. Pretty disappointed I didn't win against Roger but it was a good match," Kyrgios said.

"I'm feeling confident. I'm excited (to play Murray), obviously one of my better mates on tour.

"It's just good to see him back ultimately. I think it's been pretty shitty without him.

"To see him healthy is the main thing. I think he's awesome for the sport."

Kyrgios has a well-earned reputation as one of the tour's more controversial figures after some petulant behaviour in the past.

The 23-year-old remains combustible, but for now he insists he's focused on ruining Murray's return.

"Early in my career probably didn't play my best against Andy. I wasn't as confident back then as I am now," he said.

"Hopefully I've still got more to show him. Maybe we'll see tomorrow."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Lopez beats Cilic in nail-biting Queen's Club final

LONDON - Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez claimed the biggest title of his long career when he battled back to beat Marin Cilic 4-6 7-6(2) 7-6(8) in a nerve-wracking final of the Aegon Championships at Queen's Club on Sunday.

The 35-year-old, who suffered a heartbreaking defeat in the 2014 final when he held a match point against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, this time saved one in a tense tiebreak shootout before toppling the Croat.

Fourth seed Cilic also saved two match points, but at the third time of asking crowd favourite Lopez could finally celebrate a sixth career title after Cilic pulled a forehand into the tramlines.

"I can't believe that I finally won it, I've been waiting for 15 or 16 years to hold this trophy," an emotional Lopez, three times a Wimbledon quarter-finalist, said on court.

"I thought that at the end of the tiebreak after losing match points I wouldn't make it but I managed to do it.

"It was tough to put that (match point in 2014) out of my mind so it was difficult to handle my nerves but I managed it."


Lopez, yet another male player who appears to be getting better with age, is the oldest winner of the prestigious Queen's Club championship in the professional era.

He did it by defeating Stan Wawrinka, Tomas Berdych, Grigor Dimitrov and Cilic -- ranked three, 14, 11 and seven in the world rankings.

"It's the best week of my career, which is crazy when you're 35," said Lopez, who joins a celebrated list of former champions including the likes of John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Boris Becker, Andy Murray and fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal.

The match was decided in an epic tiebreak with both players showing remarkable grasscourt skills.

Cilic brought up match point with an ace but Lopez saved it when he cut off the Croat's attempted pass with a stretching volley. Lopez then had a match point only for Cilic to snuff it out with his 22nd ace of the match.

Lopez performed miracles to scramble a point at 7-7 and serve for the match but Cilic responded with a nerveless volley after an exchange of blows from the baseline.

A 19th ace for Lopez brought up another match point and this time Cilic could not reply.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ian Chadband and Brian Homewood)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Murray down in the dumps ahead of France clash

LONDON -- Andy Murray is still struggling to recover from his Wimbledon misery as the world number three prepares to lead Great Britain's bid to reach the Davis Cup World Group semi-finals for the first time in 34 years.

Murray's challenge for a second Wimbledon title was shattered by Roger Federer's sublime display in the semi-finals last week.

The 28-year-old Scot was demolished in straight sets by the Swiss star, but has had little time to lick his wounds with Britain's Davis Cup quarter-final against France getting underway at Queen's Club in west London on Friday.

"I thought about it most days. I did say at the time and you know a couple of days after I was gutted," Murray said.

"He served over 80 per cent in the first and third sets - that won't happen to me the rest of the year."

Murray knows he needs to shake off the blues by the time he plays his first singles match against the French because Britain are within touching distance of advancing to the last four for the first time since 1981.

And he takes heart from returning to one of his favourites venues, the grass-courts of Queen's Club where he has won the Wimbledon warm-up event four times.

"You have to look at that match (against Federer) and see what happened, analyse it a bit and look at the tournament as a whole and Queen's as well, and think about those things and see what I can do better in the future," Murray said.

"But it doesn't take one day, there's a lot of preparation that goes into those events and you need to take the time when you are finished in them to analyse what's gone right and wrong, and things that you can do to improve in the future."

- Tough ask -

Murray admits it has been difficult to get those preparations completely right, but he is still confident of impressing against a France team including fellow Wimbledon semi-finalist Richard Gasquet, along with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gilles Simon and Nicolas Mahut.

"I think over the last couple of years we've had some good performances," Murray said.

"This is our level now as a team and this weekend is going to be a tough ask against four top grass-court players.

"They're all really, really good players so it is going to be a tough challenge for us but one we have an opportunity to win if we play at our best level."

For the sixth consecutive year, France are through to the World Group quarter-finals.

They have won the Davis Cup nine times, while Britain's last victory came in 1936.

But Tsonga has been impressed by the strides made by Murray and company and is expecting a difficult time.

"They have improved a lot," Tsonga said. "I think Andy is a good guy to bring in all the other guys to a good level.

"Today they have a great team. He has got his brother (Jamie Murray), he has James Ward and a few other guys.

"They play good tennis, they play at home, so for sure they will be a good team."

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