Andy Murray and Feliciano Lopez’s quarter-final match with Dan Evans and Ken Skupski was suspended due to fading light on Day 5 at the Fever-Tree Championships. Play will resume on Saturday, with Lopez serving at 6-4 4-5.
Evans served for the second set at 5-3, but was broken on a deciding point after consecutive lob winners from Murray and Lopez. Play was then postponed for the evening at the next change of ends.
Feliciano Lopez was also in singles action on Day 5, and advanced to his first semifinal at The Queen’s Club since he won the title in 2017.
After dropping the first set to Milos Raonic on a double fault, Lopez broke immediately to open the second. The Spaniard held serve the rest of the way to force a decider. In a third set that saw no breaks of serve, Lopez emerged from the final set tiebreak as the victor, winning 4-6 6-4 7-6 against the former Queen’s and Wimbledon finalist.
Lopez will face Felix Auger-Aliassime in Saturday’s semifinal, after the young Canadian improved on his undefeated record against top seed and World No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas. Auger-Aliassime saved all seven break points that he faced on Friday, and will enter his semifinal against Lopez having not dropped serve in the tournament. He is also the youngest player to reach the semi-finals at Barons Court since Lleyton Hewitt in 1999.
Tsitsipas offered a glowing review of Auger-Aliassime after the match, even saying that the World No. 21 is the most difficult opponent he’s ever faced.
“We will definitely see him in the top-five,” Tsitsipas suggested after the match. “Perhaps not this year, but next year or the year after.”
Auger-Aliassime took the kind words in stride. “I served really well, played really well, played pretty aggressively,” said Auger-Aliassime. “I kind of take every match in a very different way, but, it's good to have this record, and hopefully I can keep it.”
In the bottom half of the draw, Gilles Simon advanced to his first semifinal at The Queen’s Club since 2015, defeating compatriot Nicolas Mahut in 3 hours and 20 minutes. The match, which ended 7-6 5-7 7-6, was the longest singles match at the Queen’s Club since time durations at the tournament began being kept in 1991. Simon will face Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals, who handled Diego Schwartzman, 6-2 6-2.
The inaugural Paul Hutchins Trophy got underway on Friday at the Fever-Tree Championships. The event, which celebrates the legacy of former Great Britain Davis Cup Captain Paul Hutchins, is a competition between junior teams from Great Britain and the United States, and includes singles and doubles action over two days of play. On the first day of the event, the US won four matches out of six. Play will continue on Saturday on courts 2 and 3.
Elsewhere, the Wheelchair event, which made its debut as an exhibition at last year’s Fever-Tree Championships, also began on Day 5 at The Queen’s Club. This year, ranking points are on offer for the first time. Stefan Olsson, Gordon Reid, Dermot Bailey, and Alfie Hewett advanced to the semifinals to be played on Court 5 on Saturday. The doubles draw of the Wheelchair Championships will begin on Saturday.
The order of play on Day 6 features the semifinals of the singles and doubles draws. Daniil Medvedev and Gilles Simon will open Centre Court at 1:00 pm, followed by Felix Auger-Aliassime and Feliciano Lopez. Centre Court will also see the resumption of Andy Murray and Feliciano Lopez’s doubles match against Dan Evans and Ken Skupski. The winner will play the defending champions, Henri Kontinen and John Peers, in the semifinal.