Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka and Milos Raonic all slumped to straight-sets losses in the first round of the Queen’s grass-court tournament on Tuesday in a blow to their preparations for Wimbledon.
Murray suffered one of the most embarrassing defeats of his career as the world No 1 was beaten by Australia’s Jordan Thompson.
Murray was hoping to warm up for his Wimbledon title defence by winning the Queen’s title for a sixth time, but he succumbed to an astonishing 7-6, 6-2 defeat against the world No 90.
The 30-year-old’s loss was all the more remarkable because Thompson was only called up to face Murray at the last minute.
Murray was scheduled to face Aljaz Bedene, but he withdrew with a wrist injury just hours before the match, leaving Thompson, who was at the west London venue as an alternate after losing in the qualifying rounds, to scramble to get ready for his unexpected date with destiny.
With the Queen’s champion well below his best, 23-year-old Thompson seized his opportunity and handed Murray his earliest exit from the tournament since 2012.
The second-seeded Wawrinka was beaten by big-serving Feliciano Lopez 7-6, 7-5, with the Spanish player sealing victory off a net cord from a sliced backhand return.
Wawrinka, the runner-up to Rafael Nadal at the French Open, appeared to be struggling with a left knee injury in the second set.
“Last week was a good week, I got to the final of Stuttgart,” Lopez said. “I came here with a lot of confidence. I knew it was going to be tough against Stan so this was a great win for me.
“I’ve played for so many years and I’m one of the oldest guys on the tour, but I feel healthy. I I know and read the game better than 10 years ago.”
While Wawrinka’s exit was not too much of a surprise, given Lopez’s recent form and liking for grass, the early departure of third-seeded Raonic in west London certainly was.
Last year’s runner-up at Queen’s and Wimbledon lost 7-6, 7-6 to No 698-ranked Thanasi Kokkinakis, who was playing only his sixth singles since November 2015.
It was the first win over a top-10 opponent for the Australian, who trailed 6-3 in the second-set tiebreaker but won on his third match point with a backhand winner into the corner.
“It’s a big frustration,” said Raonic, who failed to convert any of his nine break-point opportunities. “Obviously it would have been a lot easier scheduling everything if I was to be here and have many more matches ahead of me.”
Kokkinakis played only one match in 2016 because of a shoulder problem, and missed most of this year because of an abdominal injury. He returned to action in May and played three events before Queen’s, with his ranking as low as No 993 only last week.
“It’s everything. It’s huge for me,” Kokkinakis said. “I’ve been out for so long.”
French player Julien Benneteau advanced to the last 16 by beating Britain’s James Ward 6-2, 6-2.
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