Juan Martin del Potro wins but then withdraws from tournament with a knee injury
Thursday 20 June 2019 12:00, UK
British No 3 Dan Evans found Stan Wawrinka too strong in the first round of the Fever-Tree Championships at Queen's Club on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old arrived in west London having landed back-to-back Challenger titles on the grass of Surbiton and Nottingham, but he found Swiss star Wawrinka in a different league.
Having dropped the first three games, Evans suffered a nasty fall on the baseline in the fifth, with Wawrinka sportingly coming from the other side of the net to check on his opponent and help him to his feet.
Evans hobbled back to his chair and received treatment on his ankle before resuming.
He lost the game but was able to hold serve twice, before rain saw play suspended with Swiss seventh seed Wawrinka 5-3 ahead.
After a delay of more than three hours the players resumed with three-time Grand Slam winner Wawrinka completing a 6-3 6-4 victory.
Juan Martin del Potro marched into the second round after the world No 12 from Argentina, seeded third, beat Canadian Denis Shapovalov in straight sets.
An error-strewn service game from Shapovalov gifted Del Potro a break for 6-5 and he duly served out the first set.
The 30-year-old, who has never got past the quarter-finals at Queen's, grabbed an early break in the second set and wrapped up a 7-5 6-4 win. He was due to play former champion Feliciano Lopez in the next round after the Spaniard beat Marton Fucsovics 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 6-4 but the Argentinian was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to a knee injury, giving Lopez a walkover into the quarter-finals.
British No 1 Kyle Edmund, who has struggled for form and fitness all year, will resume at 6-3 3-3 down against top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas after they were forced off by rain.
Two first-round matches have been held back until Thursday, those between Nick Kyrgios and Roberto Carballes Baena, and Grigor Dimitrov and Felix Auger-Aliassime.
In Halle, Russian Karen Khachanov overcame a mid-match wobble to beat home favourite Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3 3-6 6-4 and reach quarter-finals in Germany.
Unseeded Belgian David Goffin progressed after he fought back to beat Moldova's Radu Albot 4-6 6-4 6-3, while Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert was also made to work hard for victory, downing Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky 2-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-4.
