Publications
Partners
London - Bernard Tomic suffered a first-round exit at Queen's Club on Tuesday as the Australian was beaten 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/4) by Germany's Benjamin Becker in front of his controversial father.
Tennis authorities gave John Tomic a worldwide ban from watching his son's matches in person after he was charged by Spanish police for allegedly assaulting his son's French hitting partner, Thomas Drouet, during the Madrid Masters earlier this year.
Drouet suffered a broken nose and back injuries after being allegedly headbutted and Tomic senior is due in a Madrid court in October in relation to the assault allegations.
Tomic's father was told to stay away from the recent French Open and security guards were issued instructions to bar him from entering.
But, although Queen's chiefs upheld the ATP ban, they agreed to let him pay for a spectator ticket for his son's first round match on the proviso that he agreed to behave himself.
There were no controversial antics from Tomic senior but, perhaps distracted by the fuss surrounding his father, the 20-year-old dropped his serve in the opening game of the match and was unable to rescue the set.
He was much more focused in the second set and held his nerve in the tie-break to level the match.
Tomic surrendered a break in the second game of the deciding set.
But Becker, ranked 105, couldn't hold on to his advantage and Tomic was able to force a tie-break.
Instead of making the most of that escape, Tomic was on the back foot from the start of the tie-break and Becker was finally able to close out the win.
Tomic's ranking has dropped to 63rd after a dismal run, which has seen him win just two of his last eight matches.
He hadn't been past the second round of any tournament since reaching the quarter-finals in Marseille in February and this was a dispiriting preparation for Wimbledon, which begins in less than two weeks.
Play was severely disrupted by rain for most of the day and Australia's Lleyton Hewitt had his second round clash with Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov postponed until Wednesday.
Former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro mounted an impressive fightback as he defeated Belgian veteran Xavier Malisse 7-6 (7/5), 1-6, 7-5.
Del Potro, seeded third, managed to recover from a break down in the final set and then battled back from 0-40 down at 5-5 before securing a gritty win as darkness closed in.
Sam Querrey, a surprise winner of Queen's in 2010, collected his 200th ATP Tour win as he defeated Aljaz Bendene 7-6 (13/11), 5-7, 7-6 (7/5) in his second round tie to set up a last 16 meeting with Hewitt or Dimitrov.
France's Nicolas Mahut, a former Queen's runner-up, crushed American Rhyne Williams 6-3, 6-2 to earn a second round rematch with top seed Andy Murray.
Mahut, playing his first match since a tearful defeat in the French Open doubles final last week, sprang a surprise when he knocked out Murray at the same stage at Queen's last year.
That loss acted as something of a jolt to Murray, who went on to win the US Open and the Olympic gold medal, as well as reaching the Wimbledon final for the first time, and is now second in the world rankings.
"To play Andy here at Queen's is not a good draw, but last year I played amazing and I won the match," Mahut said.
"I hope this year it's going to be the same, but everyone expects him to win here, to win Wimbledon, so he has a lot of pressure on his shoulders and it will be much easier for me to play."
Results from the second day of the ATP tournament at Queen's Club (x denotes seeding):
First round:
Lukas Rosol (CZE x12) bt Samuel Groth (AUS) 6-7 (7/9), 6-3, 6-2
Denis Istomin (UZB x14) bt Andrey Kuznetsov (RUS) 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/3)
Jarkko Nieminen (FIN x13) bt Ryan Harrison (USA) 6-3, 6-3
Feliciano Lopez (ESP) bt Ricardas Berankis (LTU) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Julien Benneteau (FRA x11) bt Adrian Mannarino 7-6 (9/7), 6-3
Nicolas Mahut (FRA) bt Rhyne Williams (USA) 6-3, 6-2
Grega Zemlja (SLO x16) bt Kyle Edmund (GBR) 6-4, 7-6 (7/4)
Kenny De Schepper (FRA) bt Rajeev Ram (USA) 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 6-4
Michael Llodra (FRA) bt Pablo Andujar (ESP x15) 6-3, 6-1
Benjamin Becker (GER) bt Bernard Tomic (AUS) 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/4)
Second round:
Sam Querrey (USA x6) bt Aljaz Bedene 7-6 (13/11), 5-7, 7-6 (7/5)
Juan Martin del Potro (ARG x3) bt Xavier Malisse (BEL) 7-6 (7/5), 1-6, 7-5
Denis Kudla (USA) bt Benoit Paire (FRA x9) 6-3, 6-4
