| Dates: 17-25 June Venue: Queen’s Club, London |
| Coverage: Live coverage on BBC Two and streaming on the BBC Sport website and app, with selected live text commentaries |
Cameron Norrie marked his first appearance on the British grass courts since last year’s Wimbledon semi-finals with a confident win at Queen’s.
British number one Norrie beat Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic 6-4 7-6 (7-5) on the first day of the competition.
Ryan Peniston, who reached the quarter-finals last year, shocked 37th-ranked Frenchman Ugo Humbert 6-4 6-2.
But Dan Evans was unable secure a hat-trick of home victories as he lost 6-4 7-5 to American Sebastian Korda.
An emotional Evans said afterwards he was “embarrassed” by a run of six defeats in seven matches, admitting he was lacking confidence and not looking forward to playing Wimbledon.
A busy day for the British contingent ended when 167th-ranked Jan Choinski – like Peniston, a player given a wildcard – lost 6-4 6-2 to Italian sixth seed Lorenzo Musetti.
Former world number one Andy Murray, who won the ATP Challenger tournament in Nottingham on Sunday, plays his opening match on Tuesday.
Five-time singles champion Murray faces a step up in class when he takes on Australian seventh seed Alex de Minaur.
Murray and Norrie will also team up in the men’s doubles competition later in the week.
Norrie happy to be back on home turf
Two weeks after losing in the third round on the French Open clay, Norrie was back on home turf as he looks to replicate a thrilling run at Wimbledon 12 months ago.
The 27-year-old is only planning to compete at Queen’s before Wimbledon begins on 3 July and his objective of playing as many matches as possible this week started positively.
Norrie edged a tight opening set by breaking to love in the 10th game and gained further control by taking 40th-ranked Kecmanovic’s serve early in the second set.
While the Serb instantly broke back, Norrie had a chance to seal the match in the 12th game but had to be patient, ultimately taking his fifth match point when Kecmanovic hit a stretching forehand long.
“It feels good to be back on the grass and back playing in London,” said Norrie, who had led 6-2 in the tie-break.
“It wasn’t easy to get over the line, I had a couple of chances towards the end of the second set, I donated my serve at 3-1 and then he saved a number of match points.
“I was glad to see the forehand fly long at the end. It is always tricky in the first match on grass and there are a few things to work on, but I enjoyed…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at BBC Sport – Tennis…