Andy Murray made his return to competitive tennis, and to the winner’s circle, on Day 4 of the Fever-Tree Championships. Murray and his partner Feliciano Lopez defeated the top seeded pair of Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 7-6, 6-3.
The crowd was firmly behind the five-time Queen’s Club Champion from the start, but absolutely erupted on an incredible rally as Lopez served for the match. Murray played his signature defence to keep he and Lopez in the point before firing a backhand pass for the winner. Lopez and Murray never lost another point, and advanced to Friday’s quarterfinal to face either Dan Evans and Ken Skupski or Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alex de Minaur.
“I'm very fortunate to be back playing tennis again,” Murray said after the win. “I love playing on this court, it's a brilliant place to play tennis.”
On the singles court, top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas won two matches on Thursday at the Queen’s Club to join an exciting field of quarterfinalists. Tsitsipas will be joined by fellow seeds Daniil Medvedev, Milos Raonic, and Felix Auger-Aliassime on Friday.
Tsitsipas, who resumed his first round match with Kyle Edmund at 6-3, 3-3, needed just six games to complete the victory over the British number one.
The top seed’s second round bout was slightly more complicated, however. In a match where both players served for the match, Stefanos Tsitsipas needed over two and a half hours to defeat Jeremy Chardy, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6. Despite playing far from home, Tsitsipas felt the support of the crowd.
“It's been a dream playing at Queen's,” Tsitsipas said. “I'm glad that I come here as the number one seed. People love me and support me despite not being British - I like that.”
In Friday’s quarterfinal, Tsitsipas will play Felix Auger-Aliassime, who also won two matches on Thursday. The Canadian started his tournament with a 6-4 6-4 victory over 2014 Queen’s Club champion Grigor Dimitrov, and followed it up with a dramatic victory over 2018 semifinalist Nick Kyrgios.
The topsy-turvy match between Auger-Aliassime and Kyrgios ended with the number seven seed breaking Kyrgios for the first time in the match, advancing 6-7 7-6 7-5.
Auger-Aliassime is joined in the quarterfinals by compatriot and former Queen’s finalist Milos Raonic, who beat Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia 6-3 7-6.
Despite Chardy’s loss to Tsitsipas, the French contingent at the Queen’s Club had a positive day, with both Nicolas Mahut and Gilles Simon upsetting former grand slam finalists.
Nicolas Mahut, who reached the Queen’s final in 2007, recorded his fourth career victory in as many tries against Stan Wawrinka. The World No. 191 is into his first tour-level quarterfinal since Marseille in 2018, and his first quarterfinal on grass since he won the title in s’Hertogenbosch in 2016.
In addition to Wawrinka, 2018 Champion Marin Cilic was upset on Day 4 at the Queen’s Club. Argentinian Diego Schwartzman, who had only won one match on grass prior to the 2019 Fever-Tree Championships, played solid tennis to advance by a 6-4, 6-4 score line.
Diego Schwartzman will play Daniil Medvedev on Friday in the quarterfinals, Schwartzman’s first ever appearance in the last eight of a grass court event.
Schwartzman and Medvedev will open play on Centre Court, followed by the only seeded match-up of the day between Tsitsipas and Auger-Aliassime. Lopez and Raonic will be third on Centre and Nicolas Mahut and Gilles Simon, who upset number two seed Kevin Anderson, will play the first match on Court 1.
Both Jamie Murray and Andy Murray will play their quarterfinal matches on Centre Court, with Jamie Murray taking on his former partner, and number three seed, John Peers. Feliciano Lopez and Andy Murray will play the final match on Centre Court.