Nadal, Murrary Crash Out At Queens

The top seeds continued to tumble at Queen's Club on Friday (11th June), following the exits of Andy Roddick and Novak Djokovic earlier in the week. 

Newly-crowned world number one Rafael Nadal was ousted by fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in straight sets, and defending champion Andy Murray lost his third round match, continued from Thursday (10th June), to Mardy Fish in a third set tiebreak. Fish then went on to defeat Michael Llodra for a place in the semi-finals.

In other games, Sam Querrey, the highest remaining seed, defeated Xavier Malisse and will face Rainer Schuettler, conqueror of Dudi Sela, in the last four. 

 Less than a week has passed since Rafa Nadal won the French Open for the fifth time, and the world number one appeared to have made a seamless transition from clay to grass with his steady progress to the quarter-finals of the Queen's Club tournament.

But fellow Spaniard and eighth seed Feliciano Lopez proved a formidable foe.  Nadal hadn't dropped a set against Lopez in five matches since 2003, but Lopez exerted his authority to snatch the first in a closely-contested tiebreak.

Lopez's serve-and-volley game is unusual for a Spanish player, and caused the world number one all sorts of problems.  After securing a crucial break and showing few signs of nerves, Lopez served for the match at 5-4 in the second set. And a loose backhand into the net from Nadal signalled his first defeat since losing to Andy Roddick in April.

Nadal promptly withdrew from the doubles before heading home to Majorca for a well-earned rest, leaving Lopez to savour his victory.  "Well, I'm so proud of myself, because it's a great win to beat the number one player in the world, and I'm so happy for that.  I think I played great, very solid, consistent since the first point and in general I played great.  What else can I say?  I think I played great and I'm so happy and looking forward to playing tomorrow again", said Lopez.

Earlier in the day, the unseeded American Mardy Fish had added to the cull of top seeds.  Andy Roddick and Novak Djokovic went out on Thursday, and Fish put out the defending champion and third seed Andy Murray after a third-round tussle that had been interrupted by bad light the previous evening.

The pair resumed at three-all in the deciding set, with Murray eventually outplayed 7-2 in the tiebreak.

Fired up by his victory, Fish then went on to beat Frenchman Michael Llodra 6-4, 6-4 in his quarter-final match later in the day.  Clearly enjoying the form of his life - he lost just one point on his serve in the first set - Fish will now face Lopez in the semi-finals.

Seventh seed Sam Querrey is the highest seed left in the tournament.  On a good day for American tennis, Querrey overcame the challenge from Belgium's Xavier Malisse with a straightforward 6-3, 7-5 win. 

And completing the unexpected semi-final line-up is Rainer Schuettler of Germany.  He ended the run of Israeli Dudi Sela - the man who put out Andy Roddick - with a 7-5, 6-4 victory. AP