Andy Murray became the first British champion at Queen’s Club for 71 years on Sunday when he beat American James Blake 7-5, 6-4 in the final of the grasscourt event.
With just over a week to go before Wimbledon begins next Monday, the victory will provide the world No. 3 with a much-needed boost as he aims to end the stranglehold of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal at the All England Club.
It was the 12th title of Murray’s career and the first by a British man on grass since Greg Rusedski took the Newport trophy in 2005.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Murray’s triumph raised hopes he could become the first home-grown champion at Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936.
On Sunday, the players were happy to trade an assortment of crafty angles, subtle spins and delicate dropshots before Murray suddenly turned on the power to outwit Blake.
Murray was the first to gain the breakthrough for a 2-1 lead with a sublime dropshot but barely had time to savor the moment as he lost the advantage in the next game.
PHOTO: EPA
It almost seemed as if Blake had caught Murray napping as the 22-year-old Scot surrendered his serve for only the second time this week when he stood rooted to the baseline and watched the American produce a sizzling forehand winner.
Both players refused to give an inch until the top seed broke for a 6-5 lead, with Blake paddling a forehand long on break point.
Bunny Austin was the last Briton to win the Queen’s Club title in 1938.
■GERRY WEBER OPEN
AFP, HALLE, GERMANY
Germany’s Tommy Haas took his second top-10 scalp of the week to beat world No. 4 Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-7 (7/4), 6-1 in Sunday’s Gerry Weber Open and claim his first ATP tournament victory since Memphis in 2007.
Having also defeated top-10 player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round here, Haas again proved last year’s persistent shoulder injury is behind him by beating Djokovic, who has struggled on the grass on occasions this week.
This was the 31-year-old’s first win over Djokovic, the top seed here after French Open champion Roger Federer withdrew on Tuesday.
Having come from behind to beat compatriot Philipp Kohlschreiber in the semi-final, former world No. 2 Haas, now ranked 41st in the world, wasted no time to take the first set with ease after just over half an hour.
Djokovic had made hard work of beating qualifier Olivier Rochus from Belgium the day before in his semi-final and his faltering form continued on grass with Wimbledon just a week away.
The Serb regained some composure in the second set and with both players holding serve, a tie-breaker went Djokovic’s way when Haas double-faulted on his own serve.
At the start of the third set, Haas, who lost to Federer over five sets in Paris having squandered a 2-0 lead, broke Djokovic, but the Serb responded in the third game by racing into a 40-0 lead against serve for three break points.
Haas dug deep to hold his serve to take a 3-0 lead, but although Djokovic held his serve to make it 3-1, Haas raced through to win the next three games to claim victory in just over two hours.
■AEGON CLASSIC
REUTERS, LONDON
Little-known Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova won her first WTA title with a 6-0, 7-6 win over China’s Li Na at the Aegon Classic on Sunday.
Seeded 13, the 20-year-old Rybarikova used her serve-and-volley game effectively early on against the fourth seed to breeze through the first set.
Rybarikova, ranked 38 places below Li, then ground out a close second set by winning the tiebreak 7-2.
Li struggled to reproduce the form that helped her to knock out Maria Sharapova in the semi-finals and the Chinese No. 2 admitted she was still caught up in beating the Russian for the first time in six attempts.
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
RSS