Lucky loser stuns Murray

London, June 22
The top three seeds withered in the baking Queen’s Club sunshine with five-time Aegon Championships winner Andy Murray following Stan Wawrinka and Milos Raonic through the exit door on Tuesday.
By far the biggest shock was top seed Murray’s abject 7-6(4) 6-2 defeat to Australian world No. 90 Jordan Thompson — a late call-up who only knew he was playing shortly before stepping on court against the defending champion. Second seed and world No. 3 Wawrinka, runner-up at the French Open nine days ago, went down 7-6(4) 7-5 to Spain’s Feliciano Lopez, while another young Australian, wildcard Thanasi Kokkinakis, accounted for Raonic 7-6(5) 7-6(8).
Temperatures were still sizzling when Murray took to court for his first grasscourt match of the season.
Initially he had been scheduled to face fellow Britain Aljaz Bedene but 23-year-old ‘lucky loser’ Thompson stepped in after Bedene withdrew with a wrist injury.
Murray looked uncomfortable on the slick surface as the errors flowed from his racquet, especially off the forehand. Murray admitted it was a “big blow” in his build-up for Wimbledon where he will be aiming to defend the title he won for a second time last year. “It has happened in the past where guys haven’t done well here and gone on to do well at Wimbledon,” said the Briton after the end of a 14-match winning streak on grass.