A blockbuster lineup at Queen’s Club on Tuesday features both top seed Carlos Alcaraz and five-time champion Andy Murray. Alcaraz is going up against Arthur Fils in the opening round, while Murray faces Alex de Minaur.
(7) Alex de Minaur vs. Andy Murray
Murray is already the grass-court wins leader this summer as he prepares to kick off his Cinch Championships campaign on Tuesday. No matter that all 10 of his victories have come at the Challenger level; the bottom line is that Murray has two titles in the past two weeks and is once again looking right at home on grass. Now he remains at home in front of the British crowd at Queen’s Club, where the 36-year-old Scot is 31-8 lifetime with five titles.
Up first for Murray is De Minaur, who leads the head-to-head series 3-0. The 18th-ranked Australian has prevailed on outdoor hard courts (Zhuhai in 2019), indoor hard courts (2022 Laver Cup), and clay (2023 Monte-Carlo Masters). De Minaur is also a stellar grass-court player, but last week in ‘Hertogenbosch he needed three sets to get past Laslo Djere and then lost in the second round to Tallon Griekspoor. With Murray rolling and benefiting from home-court advantage, the fan favorite may be able to pull off a minor upset.
Pick: Murray in 3
(1) Carlos Alcaraz vs. (Q) Arthur Fils
Alcaraz remains somewhat of a grass-court novice as he looks to build on a strong first half of the season while also rebounding from a French Open semifinal loss to Novak Djokovic. The second-ranked Spaniard has played only six professional matches on grass (all at Wimbledon), which includes a fourth-round performance last year at the All-England Club (lost to Jannik Sinner).
The good news for Alcaraz is that Fils, his Tuesday opponent, has played even less on the green stuff. All five of the 19-year-old Frenchman’s grass-court appearances have come in the past 10 days, with successful qualifying in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and at Queen’s Club. However, his one main-draw effort resulted in a straight-set loss at the hands of compatriot Adrian Mannarino. The surface should not be much of a factor in this particular matchup, so count on Alcaraz cruising without too much trouble.
Pick: Alcaraz in 2
WWW?
Rinderknech breaks Charlie to take the first set!
Maybe this could be a good match.
Some really bad misses from Carlitos…
There goes Andy! There goes my bracket!
That was a dreadful 2 set loss TBH. Shame, he always used to do well at Queens.
Too much tennis for his weary body?
He did look weary. But was comprehensively outplayed by Demon. Fh and second serve were both big liabilities.
But De Minaur was a lousy opponent for Andy. I wouldn’t say I liked his first round, but I picked Andy anyway. I just read his remarks after the match, and Andy is not phased. That’s Andy. He’ll not expend negative energy about the loss or on losing the seeding at Wimbledon. Andy is top shelf! 😀
Proud of you, Andy!👍💪
Ons Jabeur lost to Jaimee Fourlis. I hope Ons can play Wimbledon.
My WTA bracket is in bad shape because I picked Svitolina as the Winner. And now I see Katie Boulter lost too.
Kostyuk’s draw was dismal from the start, with Potopot waiting. And I couldn’t resist picking Anhelina Kalinina as the Finalist. Anhelina won her first-round match against Parks. I read some stories from the war that I won’t mention. It’s really sickening. My heart goes out to Ukraine and its Soldiers.