12-27-2019, 06:36 AM
LONDON -- Andy Murray was denied his 20th successive win on grass when he was beaten 7-6 (10), 6-2 by Radek Stepanek in the third round at Queens Club on Thursday. Murray, the defending champion and No. 3 seed, claimed his first match win at Queens in 2005 and went on to win the Wimbledon warmup three times. But he failed to take advantage of eight set points after leading the first-set tiebreaker 6-2, and Stepanek survived to convert with his second set point. A break to lead 1-0 in the second set put Stepanek firmly on the road to victory, and a further break to lead 5-2 left him serving for only his second win over Murray in seven meetings. Murrays last defeat on grass was against Roger Federer in the 2012 Wimbledon final. Since then, he had won the 2012 London Olympics which was played at Wimbledon, and the 2013 Queens and Wimbledon titles. "I have only got myself to blame that I lost the first set," Murray said. "I dont know how many set points I had, but quite a lot of them were on my serve. On this surface, especially, you shouldnt really be losing sets like that. For me, thats whats disappointing really about the match. "And then, yeah, unfortunately got broke in the first game of the second set. I couldnt quite get it back." Despite his defeat, the Roland Garros semifinalist has no concerns as he heads toward the defence of his Wimbledon title. "I dont think so," he said. "I need to spend time on the courts practicing some things. You know, the difference between this year and last year is I played a lot of matches the last couple of weeks at the French Open. Since the Monday before the French Open, I have played every single day bar one up to now. "Last year, I probably had about a week, 10 days preparation on the grass before I started here. This year, I had two days. Im going to take a couple of days off, watch some of the World Cup." Top seed and Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka took just 50 minutes to ease past American Sam Querrey 6-2, 6-2, and second-seeded Tomas Berdych overcame solid resistance from Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, winning 7-6 (2), 6-4. Mannarino fought off 17 break points, including four set points at 6-5 in the first set, before Berdych broke on his 18th break point to lead 2-1 in the second. Berdych will next face Feliciano Lopez after the Spanish left-hander defeated Frenchman Kenny De Schepper 7-6 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3) in a match with no breaks of serve. Fifth seed and 2011 finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was beaten 6-2, 6-4 by Marinko Matosevic. The Australian, who reached the final of a grass-court challenger last week and upset 2012 champion Marin Cilic in the first round, is coached by Hall of Famer Mark Woodforde There were victories, too, for fourth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, who defeated Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 7-6 (3), 6-4, and seventh-seeded South African Kevin Anderson who edged Ukraines Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (4). Eighth seed Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine advanced 6-4, 4-2 when Jarkko Nieminen of Finland retired injured. Balenciaga Triple S Discount . The person, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the confidential nature of the search, confirmed reports by several media outlets. The interview took place in Southern California on Monday. Balenciaga Triple S Sale . But qualifying for her first Scotties Tournament of Hearts after years of falling short in tough Manitoba provincial championships is as good as consolation prizes get for the 29-year-old from Winnipegs Fort Rouge Curling Club. http://www.balenciagacheapshoes.com/bale...-sale.html . The second-ranked Jayhawks will play the Miners of Texas-El Paso at Imperial Arena in the Bahamas. The game can be seen live on TSN2 starting at 7pm et/4pm pt. Balenciaga Sandals Sale . Even that couldnt slow them down against the New Orleans Hornets. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook scored 31 points apiece and the Thunder overcame injuries to two key backups to beat New Orleans 101-93 Monday night for their 10th straight home win. Balenciaga Shoes Sale . However, it wasnt a problem on Monday night. Evgeni Nabokov made 23 saves for his 56th career shutout in the New York Islanders 3-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night.TORONTO - Even as Toronto Maple Leafs players tried to forget a humiliating loss to the Boston Bruins, coaches reminded them just how bad it was. Randy Carlyle wanted to stimulate their memories about how embarrassed they were.It worked. On Wednesday night the Maple Leafs turned the tables and embarrassed the Bruins in a 6-1 blowout at Air Canada Centre.The last game that we played against them, there was a lot of emotion and a lot of frustration, Carlyle said. Our group, it was time to say: Hey, enoughs enough. This isnt cutting it. We have to change the way were approaching things. And thats coaching included. That was enough.Toronto improved to 6-1-1 since that 4-1 loss Oct. 25. The Leafs (9-5-2) even moved past the Bruins (10-7-0) in the Atlantic Division standings by walloping them in the rematch.Phil Kessel torched his former team with two goals to get to 10 on the season. He helped chase Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender Tuukka Rask, who got the hook after surrendering four goals on 16 shots.You know what, I havent scored many goals on him, Kessel said. Tonight I was a little fortunate to get a couple past him. I dont know.Morgan Rielly, Tyler Bozak, James van Riemsdyk and Peter Holland each scored a goal apiece. Jonathan Bernier was solid in making 25 saves despite not being tested much.It was one of the Leafs better efforts of the season, and some of the motivation for it was borne out of how they felt last month.I think we really felt liked we owed Boston one, said Holland, who scored his third goal in as many games. Last time they were in here, we felt a little embarrassed about our effort. We wanted to make sure we came out strong, and obviously a couple quick goals in the second put them back on their heels and we were just able to maintain that momentum throughout.Kessel scored his first goal 6:46 into the first period and then 18 seconds into the second. It was clear from the get-go the Bruins wouldnt have much of a response.Boston coach Claude Julien said his team was just terrible all around.We just stunk the joint out, Julien said. We got a game (Thursday night in Montreal). You certainly cant cut down your bench when you play the next night, and even if I did, I dont think II wouldve been able to put anybody out there that deserved to be out there.ddddddddddddCentre Chris Kelly said, the only thing we did as a team: we all played poorly.After Rask gave way to backup Niklas Svedberg, Julien said he wasnt even thinking about his goaltending decision for the second half of this back-to-back at the rival Canadiens.This was rivalry night on U.S. television, and the Leafs were into it from the start. After allowing goals within the first three minutes in their past three, Carlyle called this his teams best start of the season.We were on the puck and we were skating and we were directing pucks at the net, Carlyle said. Phils goal was a big goal early, and then we started out the second period the same way: we scored early.The goals piled up in the second period, and the Leafs finished with three power-play goals. Bernier wasnt busy at the other end, allowing only one goal to Dennis Seidenberg.Bernier, who was yanked in the previous Boston game, could easily recall his feelings from that night.You get down 4-0 in your own building and get booed, its not a great feeling, Bernier said. That was something tonight we had to come out hard right off the bat and give it to them.Van Riemsdyk said he and his teammates couldnt get too high after this victory, seeing as its just one of 82 and some measure of redemption. Carlyle tempered his excitement based on the Leafs next opponent.We dont want to get too far ahead of ourselves, Carlyle said. Sure, we feel good about ourselves right now, but whos coming on Friday?That would be Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins.Notes — Leafs defenceman Stephane Robidas was playing in his 900th NHL game. Robidas left the game briefly in the first period after blocking a shot but did not miss much time. ... With an assist on Kessels first goal, Cody Franson extended his point streak to five games. ... Bruins centre David Krejci missed his second straight game and fourth in the past five with an undisclosed injury. Krejci did not travel with the team, so he also isnt expected to play Thursday night in Montreal ... Bruins defenceman Matt Bartkowski was a healthy scratch for the sixth straight game.___Follow @SWhyno on Twitter ' ' '