Rafael Nadal suffered his first defeat in 25 matches as he was beaten by Feliciano Lopez in the quarter-finals at Queen’s Club on Friday, while defending champion Andy Murray also crashed out.
Not since Andy Roddick beat Nadal in the Miami semi-finals in March had the Spaniard walked off court a loser, but his compatriot and close friend Lopez brought that magnificent run to an end in emphatic fashion.
Nadal had needed treatment for a hamstring strain during his victory over Denis Istomin on Thursday and the French Open champion never seemed completely comfortable against Lopez.
PHOTO: AFP
The world No. 1’s 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 defeat and Murray’s exit to Mardy Fish earlier in the day meant none of the top six-seeds made it to the semi-finals of the pre-Wimbledon warm-up event.
Four-time Queen’s champion Roddick, second-seed Novak Djokovic, fifth-seed Marin Cilic and Gael Monfils, the sixth-seed, had all bowed out already and Nadal fared no better.
Nadal lacked rhythm right from the start as Lopez, the world No. 31, dictated the tempo with a sturdy baseline game.
PHOTO: EPA
The first set went to a tie-break and Lopez’s nerve held impressively as he earned the crucial mini-break that settled the set in his favor.
That kind of blow is usually the signal for Nadal to double his intensity and secure a gritty victory, but he never got going as Lopez made an early break in the second set.
Fish enjoyed a remarkable day as he ended Murray’s reign with a 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7/2) win in their controversial third round clash.
The American, ranked 90th in the world, followed that triumph with another strong display just two hours later as he beat France’s Michael Llodra 6-4, 6-4 in the last eight to set up a semi-final meeting with Lopez.
The other semi-final will be between American seventh-seed Sam Querrey, a 6-3, 7-5 winner over Belgium’s Xavier Malisse, and former Wimbledon semi-finalist Rainer Schuettler, who defeated Israel’s Dudi Sela 7-5, 6-4.
Murray had been left raging at Queen’s officials on Thursday evening after the tie was suspended because of bad light with the score 3-3 in the final set.
The world No. 4 felt he should have been consulted by umpire Cedric Mourier and supervisor Tom Barnes before the decision was made to halt play.
■GERRY WEBER OPEN
AFP, HALLE, GERMANY
World No. 2 Roger Federer extended his unbeaten record in Halle to 28 matches on Friday with a 7-5, 6-3 quarter-final victory over Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber.
The Swiss player has won the ATP Gerry Weber Open on his last five visits, and now has a 75-1 record on the grass in Halle, Germany, going back to 2003.
He sealed victory on his first match point after 68 minutes to set up a semi-final with another German, Philipp Petzschner, who saw off Slovak Lukas Lacko 6-4, 6-3.
Earlier, eighth-seed Lleyton Hewitt hit 13 aces to get past German wild card Andreas Beck 7-6 (7/0), 6-1.
The former world No. 1 notched up his 96th career win on grass to reach his first semi-final since October last year.
The Australian next meets Benjamin Becker, who dropped eight points on serve and hit 10 aces to defeat fellow German Mischa Zverev 7-6 (7/4), 6-0.
■AEGON CLASSIC
AFP, BIRMINGHAM, UNITED KINGDOM
Maria Sharapova once again proved too strong for her old foe Sesil Karatantcheva on Friday as she reached the semi-finals at the grasscourt event in Birmingham, England, with a 6-2, 6-4 victory.
Back in 2004, an altercation in practice at the Indian Wells event in the US led to Karatantcheva vowing to kick “her [Sharapova’s] butt”.
However, in front of a standing-room only crowd on one of the outer courts, Sharapova beat Karatantcheva in three sets, before thrashing her 6-0, 6-1 in the second round at Wimbledon a year later.
Karatantcheva, the 2004 French Open junior champion, was banned as a 16-year-old for two years for a drugs offense in 2006.
The Bulgarian-born player, who now represents Kazakhstan, has always maintained her innocence after testing positive for the steroid nandrolone.
Second-seed Sharapova won two matches on Thursday, completing a rain-delayed 6-0, 6-3 victory over Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US and then beating fellow Russian Alla Kudryavtseva 6-3, 6-1.
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