In his opening match at Queen’s Club, Andy Murray, a five-time champion, was soundly defeated 6-3, 6-1 by Alex de Minaur, putting an end to his hopes of being seeded at Wimbledon.
Murray had high expectations when he arrived in west London because of his success on the grass. He decided to compete at ATP Challenger events in Surbiton and Nottingham after opting out of the French Open. He won both competitions handily and amassed a 10-match winning streak. – eliminate the passive voice from the text and paraphrase,
However, he looked laboured from the beginning against the Australian seventh seed, spraying unforced errors and moving timidly as De Minaur smothered him with consistent aggression. Murray refused to blame his defeat on his intense schedule as he competed for a third successive week. “I felt OK going into the match. Just didn’t play very well,” he said.
Quarter-final at Queen’s Club
Now ranked 38th, Murray needed a quarter-final at Queen’s Club to give himself a solid chance of being a top‑32 seed at Wimbledon and ensure he could avoid a high seed in the first two rounds. He will instead have to wait to see what the draw produces for him next Friday.
“Obviously after today, you know, it’s easy to overreact,” Murray said. “Well, no, I lost to a good player and it was obviously very comfortable but at the same time, over the last couple of weeks, yes, it’s obviously not the same level of opponents, but I won the tournament last week without dropping a set. I only lost one set in Surbiton. Was holding serve very comfortably, was moving well, hitting the ball good. There is a lot of positive signs there.”
Eleven days since his tense, anticlimactic semi-final defeat against Novak Djokovic in the French Open, Carlos Alcaraz looked forward to new objectives as he continued to learn how to perform at a high level. On his Queen’s Club debut, the Spaniard recovered from a set deficit as he defeated Arthur Rinderknech 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (3) to reach the second round.
In his short time as a professional, Alcaraz has performed at the highest level on clay and hard courts, but Queen’s is only the third senior grass court tournament of his career. Like many young players, he is still learning the nuances of grass court tennis.