De Minaur dismisses in-form Murray at Queen's Club

Alex de Minaur has dominated former world No.1 Andy Murray in their first-round meeting at an ATP 500 grass-court tournament in London.


Tuesday 20 June 2023
Leigh Rogers
London, Great Britain
LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 20: Alex De Minaur of Australia celebrates a point against Andy Murray of Great Britain during the Men's Singles First Round match on Day Two of the cinch Championships at The Queen's Club on June 20, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Queen's Club, Great Britain

Alex de Minaur has made a sensational start to his campaign at an ATP 500 tournament at Queen's Club by eliminating five-time champion Andy Murray in the opening round.

The seventh-seeded Australian recorded a 6-3 6-1 victory against the former world No.1 and did not drop serve in their 85-minute encounter.


This snaps a 10-match winning streak for world No.38 Murray, who had won back-to-back ATP Challenger titles in the past fortnight.

It also marks a welcome return to form for world No.18 De Minaur, who had not scored a top-50 victory since his title-winning run at Acapulco in early March.

De Minaur has now won all four of his career meetings against the three-time Grand Slam champion.


Jordan Thompson also advanced after winning an all-Australian opening-round showdown.

Originally scheduled to play Canadian Milos Raonic, Thompson instead faced Alexei Popyrin.

Former world No.3 Raonic withdrew with a shoulder injury and was replaced by lucky loser Popyrin.

"It's tough playing another Aussie and not knowing I was playing him at the start of the day, but I think I dealt with that pretty well," Thompson said.

World No.76 Thompson continued his impressive grass-court form to score a 6-4 6-4 victory.

"The way (Popyrin) plays is not a huge adjustment to Raonic," said the 29-year-old Australian.

"It can throw you off a little bit but thankfully didn't today."

Thompson, who last week advanced to his first ATP-level final in four years, has won eight of his 10 grass-court singles matches so far this season.

Aussies in action - Queen's Club

RESULTS
Men's singles, first round
[7] Alex de Minaur (AUS)
d Andy Murray (GBR) 6-3 6-1
Jordan Thompson (AUS)
d [LL] Alexei Popyrin (AUS) 6-4 6-4

COMING UP
Men's singles, second round
[7] Alex de Minaur (AUS) v Diego Schwartzman (ARG)
Jordan Thompson (AUS) v [5] Cameron Norrie (GBR)

Men's doubles, first round
Matt Ebden (AUS)/Rohan Bopanna (IND) v Jamie Murray (GBR)/Michael Venus (NZL)

Halle, Germany

John Peers and Brazilian partner Marcelo Melo have advanced to the doubles quarterfinals at an ATP 500 tournament in Halle.

Peers and Melo scored a hard-fought 6-7(3) 6-3 [10-6] victory against Belgian combination Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen in first-round action.

World No.23 Gille and world No.24 Vliegen were the third seeds and contesting their first tournament since recording a runner-up finish at Roland Garros.

Aussies in action - Halle

RESULTS
Men's doubles, first round
John Peers (AUS)/Marcelo Melo (BRA) d [3] Sander Gille (BEL)/Joran Vliegen (BEL) 6-7(3) 6-3 [10-6]

COMING UP
Men's doubles, quarterfinals
John Peers (AUS)/Marcelo Melo (BRA) v Nicolas Jarry (CHI)/Rafael Matos (BRA)

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