Queen’s champion Berrettini into last eight as Wawrinka bows out

Reigning Queen’s champion Matteo Berrettini needed three sets to see off Denis Kudla as he reached the quarter-finals of the grass-court tournament on Thursday.

Berrettini won 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 but the victory was anything but straightforward for the 26-year-old.

The Italian fell behind as his American opponent took a tight first set before Berrettini, beaten in last year’s Wimbledon singles final by Novak Djokovic, edged a second set tie-breaker.

Berrettini then broke serve in the ninth game of the deciding set before he served out for the match after a draining two hours and 47 minutes on a sun-drenched centre court at Queen’s, in south-west London.

World No 10 Berrettini will now play Tommy Paul in the semi-finals after the American’s emphatic 6-1, 6-4 defeat of three-time Grand slam champion Stan Wawrinka.

The 37-year-old Wawrinka missed most of 2021 with a foot injury that required two surgeries and the Swiss player, now a lowly 290 in the world rankings, is trying to work his way back to form.

Berrettini’s success means there are at least two seeds still involved in the Wimbledon warm-up event following Marin Cilic’s win on Wednesday.

Casper Ruud, Cameron Norrie, Taylor Fritz, Diego Schwartzman, Denis Shapovalov and Reilly Opelka were all defeated prior to the quarter-finals.