On Saturday four players will lock horns for a chance to reach the final of the Fever-Tree Championships. Nick Kyrgios will take on Marin Cilic first on Centre Court. Following that match, 12-time grand slam champion Novak Djokovic faces France’s Jeremy Chardy for a chance to reach his first final of the season.
Here are four things to know about today’s semi-final matches at The Queen’s Club.
Chardy looks to break his losing streak
The past few weeks have seen 31-year-old Chardy experience some of his best ever results on the grass. At the start of this month he defeated Dan Evans to claim his first ever Challenger title on the surface in Surbiton. He was able to follow up on that milestone by reaching his third ATP final in ‘s-Hertogenbosch a week later.
Despite Chardy’s recent surge in success, he still faces a tall order against Djokovic. They have already played each other 10 times with the Serbian winning all of them in straight sets. Queen’s will be their first meeting on the tour since 2015 and their first meeting on the grass since 2013.
“I think being able to play that many matches and win in a row builds confidence, especially on this surface where we don’t have a long season on. So he got plenty of matches under his belt in the last couple of weeks.” Djokovic said of his semifinal opponent.
“He is feeling confident and comfortable, as well. I have seen him play a little bit, Chardy. He has a powerful serve and I have played him many times also on grass. Big forehand.”
Route to the semifinals
R1 – Def Tim Smyczek 6-2, 6-4
R2 – Def Daniil Medvedev 7-6(6), 6-3
QF – Def Frances Tiafoe 6-4, 6-4
Djokovic aims to extend near-perfect French record
Former world No.1 Djokovic has an almost flawless record against French opposition within recent years. Since 2012 he has won 48 out of 50 matches against French players. The only two players to buckle that trend was Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the 2014 ATP Finals and Benoit Paire at this year’s Miami Masters.
Earlier in his career, Djokovic played in eight ATP Finals against French players between 2007-2012. His only loss was at the hands of Tsonga at the 2008 Thailand Open.
“I’m just excited to be in the semifinals. I haven’t had too many of those over the last 15 months. So let’s hope that I can get a chance to fight for a trophy.” Djokovic said after winning his 800th tour match on Friday.
Route to semifinals
R1 – Def John Millman 6-2, 6-1
R2 – Def Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-1
QF – Def Adrian Mannarino 7-5, 6-1
Kyrgios targets grass-court milestone
23-year-old Kyrgios is aiming to reach his first grass-court final on the ATP World Tour. He has already featured in seven ATP Finals. Six on a hard-court and one on the clay.
Kyrgios has already hit a whopping 32 aces in his two previous matches against Kyle Edmund and Feliciano Lopez. Bringing his total for the week to a tournament record of 82. The tour record for most aces in a two-sets match is held by John Isner, who hit 33 aces during his clash with Radek Stepanek at the 2015 Atlanta Open.
“My serve’s been like this ever since I was a little kid. It was my best shot. I always based my game around it.” Said Kyrgios.
“It was one shot where I didn’t really practice much at all. I would hit maybe 10 or 15 serves a day.
“I used to just throw the ball up and hit it as hard as I could. I guess just one day it started winning me easy points. I was, like, this is better than running, and that’s it.”
Should Kyrgios win, he would become the first Australian to reach the final at Queen’s since Lleyton Hewitt back in 2007. Kyrgios teamed up with Hewitt to play in the doubles tournament this year.
Route to semifinals
R1 – Def Andy Murray 2-6, 7-6(4), 7-5
R2 – Def Kyle Edmund 7-6(3), 6-7(5), 6-3
QF – Def Feliciano Lopez 7-6(5), 7-6(3)
Marin Cilic targets No.4
Earlier in the week Cilic said The Queen’s Club felt like home to him and with good reason. This year is his 12th consecutive appearance at the tournament. Cilic, who won the title back in 2012, currently has a win-loss record of 29-9 at the tournament (not counting walkovers).
“I’ve been coming here since 2007, every single year, and enjoying it. I’ve had great success even though the tournament is extremely strong every single year.” Said Cilic.
“It’s always a pleasure for me to play here. I think it’s very special as every single match is a full crowd, so it makes it even more interesting.” He added.
A win over Kyrgios will elevate Cilic into his fourth Queen’s final. Besides claiming the title in 2012, he also finished runner-up to Andy Murray in 2013 and Lopez in 2017. So far in his career, Cilic has only reached four finals of the same tournament once before. That was back in his home country at the now defunct Zagreb Open.
Route to semifinals
R1 – Def Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-4
R2 – Def Gilles Muller 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
QF – Def Sam Querrey 7-6(3), 6-2
The Queen’s semifinals will get underway at 13:00 GMT.
