World No 18 Alex de Minaur defeats Andy Murray in straight sets, 6-3 6-1, to knock the Scot out at the first round of Queens in a major blow to his Wimbledon hopes; top seed Carlos Alcaraz survived a scare to defeat French journeyman Arthur Rinderknech to book passage through at Queens
The five-time Queen’s Club winner paid for an error-strewn, irritable performance as he slipped to a 6-3 6-1 defeat against the Australian seventh seed.
Murray had won 10 matches in a row in claiming back-to-back grass-court titles in Surbiton and Nottingham.
But Australian seventh seed De Minaur – the world number 18 – was a major step up in class and probably one of the trickiest first-round opponents Murray could have drawn.
The 24-year-old certainly knew his way around a grass court; he is a former Eastbourne champion and reached the fourth round at Wimbledon last year.
He was simply too strong for Murray, sending him spinning to a defeat which means, barring an unlikely raft of withdrawals, that he will not be seeded at Wimbledon next month.
Murray probably needed to reach the quarter-finals at least to have a chance of being one of the top 32 players at SW19, but now the two-time champion – currently ranked 38 – is at risk of facing one of the big guns in the early rounds.
Murray’s appearance in the singles may have been fleeting, but tournament organisers will at least be relieved he has opted to play doubles with British No 1 Cameron Norrie; they face Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram on Wednesday evening.
