Andy Murray today had to fight all the wat to hold off the challenge of Kyle Edmund and reach the semi-finals of the Aegon Championships at Queen’s Club.
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“I really enjoy playing here”.
“I really like his coach, he’s got a fantastic attitude and has him working extremely hard”.
It was the first all-British Queen’s Club quarter-final in the Open era and the first last eight showdown between two Brits on the ATP Tour since Tim Henman defeated Greg Rusedski in Adelaide in 2002.
Andy Murray won a second consecutive match against a British compatriot as Kyle Edmund’s Queen’s dreams were ended despite a valiant fight.
Slovenia-born Bedene, a United Kingdom citizen since 2015, saw his appeal to represent his country in the Davis Cup rejected earlier this year Murray will now face one of his title-winning British teammates in Kyle Edmund on Friday.
Earlier that year, Cilic had snapped a painful seven match losing streak but it is Murray who rules the roost on grass, including two wins at Queen’s.
Britain’s Andy Murray (L) shakes hands with Britain’s Aljaz Bedene (R) after Murray won thei …
“I was a bit disappointed to lose second”, said Murray.
One break, in the eighth game, was enough for Murray to win the first set and he then broke for 2-1 in the second, only for Bedene to break back.
But he gradually found some rhythm and broke for a 5-3 lead before serving out the first set with the minimum fuss.
Murray will play Croatia s Marin Cilic in the last four on Saturday in a rematch of the 2013 final at the Wimbledon warm-up event in west London.
But the world No 85 backed up the Scot’s prediction that he will go much higher in the rankings with a gutsy display in the second set.
“It’s going to be a little bit of a crowd against me”, Cilic said after his 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-4 win over Steve Johnson, with what was perhaps a little bit of an understatement.
“I’ve been very fortunate to do that”.
“I think he’s very professional, he loves tennis, he’s very focused on his career, so that’s very positive”, Murray, 29, said of Edmund.
The Frenchman’s consistency over the past 10 years speaks for itself and he has been ranked inside the world’s top 30 five years in a row.
A brief rain shower then caused play to be suspended for about 20 minutes and on the resumption Simon served two double faults in one game to concede his serve.
John Isner of the USA fired 43 aces and held 10 match points but lost to Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 3-6, 7-6 (16), 7-6 (7).
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John Isner beat Juan-Martin Del Potro 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 in his first-round match, while third seed Milos Raonic downed controversial Australian Nick Kyrgios 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-4.
