Glossing over grass: Double duty at Queens Club; Gasquet reaches quarters in Halle

The rains caused havoc at the Queen’s Club for much of this week. So when the skies cleared on Thursday, the tournament plunged headlong into action to catch up on the delayed schedule. The results were largely on expected lines, but the stars were forced to play twice during the day to book their spot in the last eight. In comparison Halle had a rather light day, needing just four matches to complete the quarterfinal line-up.

Aegon Championships

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France celebrates victory during the Men’s Singles third round match against Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands on day four of the AEGON Championships at Queens Club on June 13, 2013 in London, England. (Getty Images)

Jo-Wilfired Tsonga was the man who did the most work, having to play two brutally demanding three set matches within hours of each other. Tsonga defeated Eduard Roger-Vasselin 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-3 to reach the round of 16 and returned on court inside three hours to take on Igor Sijsling. The Dutch player fought tooth and nail to split the first two sets, but Tsonga showed remarkable fitness and zeal to seal a deserving 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 victory in an hour and 48 minutes.

The favourite to win the title, Andy Murray also had double duty, but he only had to complete his unfinished match against Nicolas Mahut. Murray had taken the first set and was serving at 15-0 in the fifth game when the rains forced them indoors in their second round match on Wednesday. Mahut played with renewed purpose to keep them on court for 45 minutes, but Murray had the answers when he needed them most to prevail 6-3, 7-6 (4). In his second match of the day, Murray was just too good for Marinko Matosevic, who lasted less than an hour in a 6-2, 6-2 drubbing.

In the quarters, Murray will play Benjamin Becker, who ousted Alexandr Dolgopolov 7-6(5), 7-5 in a tense 96 minute third round match. Standing in the path of a likely blockbuster semi-final between Murray and Tsonga is Denis Kudla. The American needed less than an hour to oust Kenny de Schepper 6-1, 6-3 to earn his first date with Tsonga in an ATP tour level match.

“I thought the first match it was pretty high standard of grass court tennis. He volleyed extremely well today,” said Murray, acknowledging Mahut’s valiant effort. “He made a lot of good pickups, and I just managed to come up with some good passing shots at the right time in the tie-break.”

Speaking about the second match, Murray said, “but this afternoon, it was hard to judge. It was so windy out there. You couldn’t strike the ball that clean or really go for the lines. You just had to play high percentage tennis.”

The other two quarterfinals are also potentially high octane – one features the resurgent Lleyton Hewitt against Juan Martin Del Potro and the other is between Tomas Berdych and Marin Cilic. While Berdych came through in straight sets over Grega Zemlja, Cilic had a fight on his hands. The defending champion saved a match point before sealing a hard earned 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5 victory over Feliciano Lopez.

Almost in similar vein, Del Potro had an easy 6-0, 6-3 romp over wild card player Dan Evans. But his opponent in the quarters, Hewitt needed nearly two hours and four match points to pave his past the fighting American Sam Querrey. Serving for the match in the third set, Hewitt had to save two break points, before scoring a hard earned 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 victory.

Friday’s action starts at 1700hrs IST with the match between Berdych and Cilic. Tsonga has been afforded some time to recover from his exertions on Thursday, with the Frenchman scheduled to play the last match of the evening against Kudla.

Gerry Weber Open

Tommy Haas of Germany plays a forehand in his match against Ernests Gulbis of Latvia during day four of the Gerry Weber Open at Gerry Weber Stadium on June 13, 2013 in Halle, Germany. (Getty Images)

Compared to the hectic action at the Queen’s Club, which saw as many as four three set matches, the fare at Halle was relatively bland. Philipp Kohlschreiber, the 2011 champion, emerged winner in an all-German contest with Tobias Kamke. The sixth seed reached his 8^th quarterfinal in nine appearances at this event in Halle with an easy 6-4, 6-3 win over Kamke. Kohschreiber will play Mikhail Youzhny to try and reach the semi-finals

Richard Gasquet set up a quarterfinal over Florian Mayer with a brilliant 6-3, 6-1 thumping of Jurgen Melzer. Mayer defeated his name sake Leonardo Mayer 6-2, 6-3 to book his spot. The match of the day though was certainly the one between Tommy Haas and Ernests Gulbis. The defending champion failed to convert on any of the 16 break points that came his way, before finally taking the decisive 17^th to swing the match in his favour. Haas needed an hour and 49 minutes to oust Gulbis 7-6 (5), 6-4 and set up a quarterfinal clash against Gael Monfils.

Haas had plenty of chances to break in the first set – the second game lasted 20 points and Haas missed a couple of chances to break. Haas held at 15 to take a 2-1 lead in the first set when Gulbis fumbled to 0-40 in the next game. Even as it seemed that a break was inevitable, Gulbis fought stoically to save as many as seven break points in yet another 20 point marathon. Finally Haas took the lead on his fifth set point to end the set after 71 minutes. Haas finally broke Gulbis in the fifth game of the second set to take control of the match.

Friday will see Roger Federer play the first of those four quarter-final matches against Mischa Zverev. Gasquet and Florian Mayer will follow them on to court to play the second match. Haas and Monfils are on court next followed the final match of the day between Youzhny and Kohlschreiber.