Murray shock defeat at Queen’s

Brit knocked out by world number 90

World number one Andy Murray was knocked out of Queen’s by Jordan Thompson – a player ranked number 90 – on Tuesday.

The 30-year-old hasn’t looked himself for most of this year, following a season interrupted by injury, but he was widely tipped to sharpen his tools for Wimbledon by defending the Queen’s Club title he won last year.

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Brit beaten by lucky loser

It wasn’t to be, with Muzza KO’d at the hands of little-known Australian Thompson courtesy of a 7-6, 6-2 score. To make matters worse for the Scotsman, the winner only qualified for the competition as a lucky loser, and the result must rate as one of the worst of Murray’s career.

That shock has cast doubt over his ability to shine at Wimbledon this summer, and it also opened the betting up to win this tournament. Andy was a short-priced favourite to come out on top and claim this gong, but traders are now at a loss to nail down a convincing jolly, following a week of upsets.

Cilic priced as new favourite

Coral’s sports team based in Stratford have moved to pin Marin Cilic to the head of the betting, with the 28-year-old Croatian currently doing the rounds at 11/4. He’s next out against Stefan Kozlov, and although punters have not had their winning underdogs to seek so far, Cilic is expected to breeze through.

Marin has won this title in the past, coming out on top back in 2012 thanks to a final win over David Nalbandian. 6-7, 4-3 at the time, the champion was handed the title after his opponent threw a famous wobbler. The beaten man defaulted, kicking an advertising board in frustration, causing a cut leg. Cilic will be hoping for a more convincing route to the silver this time.

Dimitrov deserves our respect

The last player to win here who wasn’t Andy Murray was, of course, Grigor Dimitrov, who banked the prize money in 2014, beating Spaniard Feliciano Lopez to the top-step in what turned out to be a three-set battle. 6-7, 7-6, 7-6 ended as the result that day, and neutrals would be happy with a final that can live up to that.

We have 26-year-old Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov as an 11/4 second-favourite on Wednesday, and he’s odds-on favourite to beat Benneteau, the current prices standing at 1/4 against 3/1.

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