Alcaraz sails into Queen’s Club quarters, Fritz knocked out

LONDON: Top seed Carlos Alcaraz cruised into the quarter-finals of the Queen’s Club Championships after he beat Jiri Lehecka 6-2, 6-3 on Thursday but third seed Taylor Fritz was knocked out by Adrian Mannarino.

Alcaraz is playing on grass for the first time this week since his fourth-round exit at Wimbledon last year and he is slowly getting to grips with the unfamiliar, faster surface.

The Spaniard won the US Open last year and reached the French Open semi-finals earlier in June, losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic on the Paris clay.

Yet to go past the Wimbledon last 16, Alcaraz believes he is making strides at just the right time, with the All England Club tournament starting on July 3.

“I’m happy with the level I played today… I had a really solid match. I’m feeling really comfortable here on grass, getting experience and hours on grass,” world number two Alcaraz said.

“Your expectations change when you’re playing your first quarter-final (on grass), I’m enjoying every single second and I go into the next round with confidence.”

Under sunny skies, Alcaraz raced away into a 3-0 lead in the opening set despite taking a tumble and losing his racket when his Czech opponent fired a winner and eventually got on the board.

But Alcaraz was back on his feet and dusted himself off before quickly pulling away, sealing the first set with an audacious cross-court backhand winner that whizzed past Lehecka as the Czech approached the net and landed right on the line.

Alcaraz carried that momentum into the second set as Lehecka struggled to read his low groundstrokes while the Spaniard also saved three break points to go 4-1 up.

By then the writing was on the wall and although Lehecka valiantly managed to hold serve, Alcaraz sealed the win on his third match point when the Czech’s return went long.

Top-seeded Alcaraz will face former Queen’s champion Grigor Dimitrov in the last-eight clash after the Bulgarian defeated Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 7-5.

Meanwhile, Fritz’s preparations for Wimbledon took a hit when the American went down in straight sets to Mannarino, the Frenchman winning 6-4, 7-6(7) to move into the quarter-finals.

It was a second victory over a top-10 player for Mannarino in as many weeks having beaten Daniil Medvedev in ’s-Hertogenbosch.

Mannarino will face Australia’s Alex de Minaur who swept Diego Schwartzman aside with an emphatic 6-2, 6-2 victory, breaking the Argentine six times and wrapping up the contest in just 65 minutes.

OSTAPENKO KNOCKS OUT VENUS IN BIRMINGHAM

Earlier, Venus Williams narrowly failed to reach her first WTA quarter-final in four years as the American legend was beaten by Jelena Ostapenko in the second round in Birmingham.

Venus had enjoyed her first victory over a top 50 opponent in four years on Monday when the former world number one beat Camila Giorgi in her Birmingham opener.

But the 43-year-old, a seven-time Grand Slam champion, was unable to make it two in a row as she succumbed to a hard-fought 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 loss to Latvia’s Ostapenko on the Edgbaston grass.

Venus briefly rolled back the years when she saved a match point at 3-5 in the second set, then reeled off three successive games as second-seeded Ostapenko lost her rhythm.

After Venus moved 2-0 ahead in the deciding set, it appeared the five-time Wimbledon winner might be on course for the last eight.

But Ostapenko, a former Wimbledon semi-finalist, recomposed herself and eventually shattered Williams’ hopes of a morale-boosting run at Birmingham.

“Of course, I could finish it a bit quicker. I got a little bit disappointed after the match point in the second set. But Venus is a great player, a great champion and it’s an honour to share the court with her,” former French Open champion Ostapenko said.

In the quarter-finals, Osta­penko faces Poland’s Magdalena Frech, who battled past eighth seed Sorana Cirstea 6-3, 6-7 (1-7), 6-4.

Britain’s Harriet Dart will take on fourth seed Anastasia Potapova, who defeated American Caty McNally 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7/0).

Meanwhile, there will be an all-Czech quarter-final between top seed Barbora Krejcikova and 18-year-old Linda Fruhvirtova.

Fruhvirtova was already through to the last eight and former French Open champion Krejcikova joined her by seeing off Tereza Martincova 6-4, 6-4.