Queen’s Club: Ryan Peniston’s dream debut ends against Filip Krajinovic in quarter-finals | Tennis News

‘For a set and a half he was the better player.’ Ryan Peniston, the last Briton left in the draw at The Queen’s Club, is beaten in three sets by Filip Krajinovic, while Matteo Berrettini defeats Tommy Paul to reach the semi-finals at the cinch Championships

Ryan Peniston threatened to add Filip Krajinovic to the scalps of Francisco Cerundolo and Casper Ruud

British No 7 Ryan Peniston’s dream Queen’s Club debut was ended in three sets by Filip Krajinovic at the cinch Championships.

The 26-year-old left-hander from Southend took the first set of their quarter-final and looked on course to add world number 48 Krajinovic to the scalps of Francisco Cerundolo and top seed Casper Ruud.

But the experienced Serbian hit back for a 4-6 6-3 6-3 victory to end British interest in the singles.

Krajinovic beat Peniston in three sets at The Queen’s Club

Peniston can console himself with a £50,000 pay day, almost double his earnings for the rest of the year.

He will also move up 35 places in the rankings to 145 in the world.

In an impressive start to the match, Peniston had already created seven break points before he finally struck for 5-4 after Krajinovic dumped a volley into the net.

A forehand winner which clipped the baseline brought up the opening set in just 47 minutes.

With the temperature touching 33C on centre court, Krajinovic threatened to boil over when he was called for a foot fault, but the 30-year-old grabbed the only break to level the match.

When Peniston’s forehand crashed into the net following a fine return of serve, Krajinovic moved a break ahead at 3-2 in the third.

Peniston won an epic rally with a diving volley at the net to haul himself level, but his inexperience showed when he immediately double-faulted on his way to dropping serve to love.

After Peniston floated a forehand wide on match point, Krajinovic said, “That was really tough.

“The conditions were hot, windy. He played really well and for a set and a half he was the better player.

“But I started to play more aggressively and he made some mistakes, and I’m very happy to be in my first semi-final on grass.

“But he’s going to be a very good player, I wish him all the best.”

Peniston can now move on to next week’s tournament in Eastbourne having been handed a wild card.

Berrettini back into semi-finals

Matteo Berrettini is back into the Queen’s Club semi-finals and still hasn’t lost since his return to competitive play after three months out with a hand injury.

The second-seeded Italian beat Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-2 on Friday and will play Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands for a place in the final at the grass-court tournament.

Berrettini’s first tournament back after injury was last week on grass in Stuttgart, where he beat Andy Murray in the final on Sunday.

Matteo Berrettini celebrates following his match against Tommy Paul on day five of the cinch Championships at The Queen’s Club, London

He is the man to beat this week, too, in his defense of the title at the Wimbledon warm-up event. Berrettini won the 2021 tournament at Queen’s only losing one set all week and followed that up by reaching the Wimbledon final, losing to Novak Djokovic after taking the first set.

Having struggled against lucky loser Denis Kudla in a second-round match that went three sets, Berrettini was back to something close to his best against an opponent in Paul who had defeated sixth-seeded Denis Shapovalov and Stan Wawrinka to get to the quarter-finals.

Berrettini sealed victory with an ace down the middle and relied on his big serve, winning 82% of points on his first serve.

Van de Zandschulp, who is unseeded and ranked No. 29, beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain 6-2 6-4.