A Day Of Mixed Results For Remaining Brits At Queen’s Club

Jacob Fearnley
Jacob Fearnley (photo: ATP Tour video)

LONDON/WASHINGTON, June 20, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

A day after he reached his first ATP Tour quarterfinal at the HSBC Championships in West London, Great Britain’s Jacob Fearnley looked to become just the second British player in the Open Era to advance to the Queen’s Club semifinals in his main draw debut – and first since 1977, when Mark Cox reached the final in his first appearance.

Friday afternoon on sunny Andy Murray Arena, the British No. 2 from Worcester took on World No. 30 Jiri Lehecka of Czechia, who has performed solidly throughout the first two weeks of the pre-Wimbledon grass-court season by winning four of his first five matches. By the end of his 77-minute tussle against Fearnley, Lehecka had chalked up win No. 5 with a 7-5, 6-2 victory to move into Saturday’s semifinals.

With the crowd backing him throughout the quarterfinal, the 60th-ranked Fearnley was hopeful. However, the 23-year-old Briton’s serve let him down in a big way. He surrendered 10 double faults and was broken four times in 10 attempts by Lehecka. Add to it, Fearnley was able to win just 33 percent of his second-serve points. The disappointed look on his face spoke volumes.

Meanwhile, Lehecka confidently won 79 percent of his first-serve points, garnered 67 percent of his second-serve return points, took advantage of 28 unforced errors by Fearnley and outpointed his opponent 65-47. It was the the 100th career tour-level win for the 23-year-old Czech No. 3.

During his post-match news conference, Fearnley was asked about the frustration of not being able to effectively place his first or second serves into play against Lehecka.

“I mean, of course it’s frustrating,” said Fearnley, whose win-loss record dropped to 2-8 against Top-30 players. “I mean, it’s well in my control, though. I just had a bad serving day. Yeah, that was it, really.

“I served two-and-a-half games of double faults. When he’s serving the way he was serving, it’s tough to win. It got to my head a little bit. But no, yeah, it’s obviously extremely frustrating. At this level you can’t give that away, that many free points.”

Fearnley added: “It’s just, yeah, it’s frustrating, because you also feel – I mean, I got a break up, I was playing well, and then just lost it on my serve. That’s probably the most frustrating part about today.”

Still, for all his woes, Fearnley managed to put a positive spin on a disappointing loss that ended his Queen’s Club run sooner than he had hoped.

“It was a good tournament,” he said, after improving his PIF ATP Live Ranking to No. 51 this week. “I thought overall I played some good tennis. Obviously, unfortunate today, but yeah, still pretty cool, first quarterfinal here at home. So yeah, it’s been a good week.”

As his news conference neared its completion, Fearnley was asked what he needs to do to be able to approach being a Top-40 – or even a Top-30 player. He smiled as he spoke. “Well, today I needed to serve better,” he said. “That was the thing that was the difference I think between us. I mean, he was serving great; I was serving terrible.

“Yeah, I think that’s it, really. Maybe just how I’m responding to it. I think mentally, especially when I’m a bit tired, maybe I’m not responding in the appropriate way, or maybe I’m not being as positive as I should in big moments. I think that’s something that I always need to improve, and kind of dealing with adversity maybe a little bit better when I’m playing better opponents.”

Meanwhile, Fearnley’s British teammate, World No. 5 Jack Draper, rallied for a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 victory over No. 32 Brandon Nakashima of the United States in two hours and 22 minutes to advance to the Queen’s Club semifinals for the first time. By reaching his career third semifinal on grass, Draper is guaranteed a Top-4 seed at Wimbledon, which begins a week from Monday.

In a very competitive quarterfinal match, Draper won 78 percent of his first-serve points, hit 41 winners – including 14 aces – and saved 10 of the 11 break points he faced from Nakashima, who countered with 29 winners of his own. Draper outpointed his opponent 107-100. Although he converted just two of 10 break-points chances, Draper pressured Nakashima into committing 32 unforced errors. It all added up to another great day on the grass for the British No. 1.

In the pressure moments, particularly in the final set, Draper stepped up and got the job done. His 28th victory of the season lifted him into his 12th tour-level semifinal – fourth this season – and second on British grass following Eastbourne in 2022. He improved to 27-3 against players ranked outside the Top-20 since last October.

“I picked up my energy [against Brandon],” Draper said during his on-court interview with ATP Media. “This week, I’ve been struggling a little bit for energy and to find my level. But to be in the semifinals, considering all that … it’s one thing winning matches when you’re playing great and feeling great, and it’s another thing to it when you’re not. That’s something that’s been more impressive to me personally. I feel good, I just want to feel better each day. Hopefully, I can out there tomorrow and show some better stuff. …

“To be in the semifinals here is something I’ve wanted since I was a little kid.”


Sixteen wins and counting for Alcaraz

World No. 2 and top seed Carlos Alcaraz, the 2023 Queen’s Club champion, fought off big serving by 80th-ranked lucky loser Arthur Rinderknech of France, 7-5, 6-4, in an hour and 20 minutes to extend his career-best winning streak.

After surviving a three-hour-plus three-set battle with fellow Spaniard Jaume Munar, Alcaraz dropped just three points on his first serve and did not face any break points en route to gaining his 16th straight victory and 40th win of the 2025 season. He struck 24 winners, including eight aces, and converted both break-point opportunities. He outpointed Rinderknech 61-53.

“I thought I was going to feel much worse, but we are tennis players, we have to do whatever we have to do to feel good,” Alcaraz said during his on-court interview with ATP Media. “I’m glad that today was one hour and 20 minutes, a bit more like grass.”

Later, during his post-match news conference, Alcaraz spoke about his personal-best winning streak.

“I think it’s going great. Obviously as much wins as I get, the more confident I’m going to get,” he said. “Right now I’m feeling great on  the court. A lot of things that I can improve, obviously, on grass, but right now. I’m just really happy with everything, you know, how the days have gone lately. So, I mean, confidence is pretty high, and hopefully keep going.”

Next, Alcaraz will face another Spaniard, No. 51 Roberto Bautista Agut, who upset No. 4 seed Holger Rune of Denmark, 7-6 (5) 6-7 (4), 6-2, in two hours and 26 minutes Friday evening. The 37-year-old Bautista Agut, the third-oldest man to reach the semifinals at Queen’s Club, earned his first Top-10 win of the season and is through to the 47th tour-level semifinal of his career. He won 14 of 15 first-serve points in the final set to overwhelm Rune.

“It mean’s a lot, it means that I still really love the sport,” Bautista Agut expressed during his on-court interview with ATP Media. “I wake up every morning with 120 percent of dedication. I’ve been doing a lot of work this year, but the results didn’t show. But I’m very happy with how I’m playing this week.”

Around the Queen’s Club

The remaining two doubles quarterfinals took place on Court 1 Friday afternoon. In the first match, No. 4 seeds Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool of Great Britain defeated Rohan Bopanna of India and Sander Gille of Belgium, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5), in an hour and 31 minutes by combining to hit 14 aces and outpointing their opponents 84-66.

The second match, between British wild cards David Stevenson and Marcus Willis against No. 2 seeds Harri Heliovaara of Finland and Henry Patten of Great Britain, was won in a match tie-break by the Finnish/British duo, 2-6, 6-3, 10-6, in 69 minutes.

Cash and Glasspool will face Heliovaara and Patten in the semifinal round Saturday. The other semifinal will pair Nikola Mektic of Croatia and Michael Venus of New Zealand against British wild cards Jacob Fearnley and Cameron Norrie.

Friday’s HSBC Championships results

Saturday’s HSBC Championships order of play

By the numbers

By reaching his third career semifinal on grass, Great Britain’s Jack Draper will rise to No. 4 in the PIF ATP Rankings next week, which would confirm him as a Top 4 seed at Wimbledon.

“Quotable …”

“Obviously, this tournament is kind of getting experience, getting myself used to the grass again. Yeah, I’m just really happy to get my longest winning streak of my career. Hopefully, it’s not going to stop here. I’m going to keep, like, I want to keep winning. It gives me a lot of confidence.”

– World No. 2 and top seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, during his post-match news conference Thursday, on the longest winning streak of his career and the confidence that is built from winning.

Search

Brigitte Urban
Tennis photographer
camera lens

International Blogs

Dietmar Kaspar

Tommy Haas: „Bei den Grand Slams bin ich Traditionalist“

June 4, 2025

Michael Dickens

The Warrior: Rafael Nadal And His Kingdom Of Clay

May 16, 2025

Marc Raffel

Zum 11. Mal ATP Tennis an Rhein & Ruhr in Meerbusch

March 28, 2025

Florian Heer

Arzel Mevellec über die Entwicklung des Rwanda Challenger: „Wir lernen jedes Mal dazu!”

March 5, 2025

Podcast

Categories