Marinko Matosevic’s eventful week at Queen’s Club has ended with a straight-sets defeat by top seed Stanislas Wawrinka in the quarter-finals.
The Australian couldn’t continue his giant-killing run at the grass court tournament as the Swiss world No.3 prevailed 7-5 6-3 on Friday.
Despite the defeat, 60th-ranked Matosevic will head to Wimbledon buoyed by an encouraging run to the last eight that featured wins over 2012 champion Marin Cilic and fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
“If you told me before the week I’d beat Marin and Jo, I would have taken it,” Matosevic said.
“Today the loss is disappointing but overall it’s been a good week.”
Ankle and hip injuries suffered in Thursday’s win over fifth seed Tsonga had placed Matosevic in some doubt for the semi-final.
However he looked to have recovered well and held his own against the top seed for most of the first set, fighting back from 0-40 down to hold serve at 4-4.
He finally let his service slip as he looked to force a tiebreak, double faulting on break point to hand the Wawrinka the first set.
The Swiss raced to a 3-0 lead in the second set and was always in control from there as he secured victory in one hour and ten minutes.
Matosevic felt he didn’t return as well as he had in previous matches but said there were plenty of positives to take to the All England Club.
“The last two weeks have given me a lot of confidence and I think if I can get a good draw I can do some good things,” said Matosevic, who reached the final of a challenger event in Nottingham the previous week.
Along with his significant wins and an injury scare, Matosevic also made headlines this week for his controversial remarks about women’s tennis.
The 28-year-old was labelled pig-headed by compatriot Samantha Stosur after saying he could never follow Andy Murray’s lead in hiring a female coach because “I don’t think that highly of the women’s game.”
Wawrinka will face fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov in the last four after the Bulgarian progressed automatically when Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov withdrew because of injury.
Lleyton Hewitt’s conqueror, Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, defeated second seed Tomas Berdych 6-4 7-6 (9-7) and will face Radek Stepanek in the other semi.
The Czech veteran claimed another impressive scalp as he followed his shock win over Andy Murray by defeating South Africa’s Kevin Anderson 1-6 6-3 6-2 in the quarter-finals.
Stepanek, ranked 42nd, ended defending champion Murray’s 19-match winning run on grass on Wednesday to clinch his first victory against a player ranked in the ATP top 10 since 2012.
And the 35-year-old continued his giant-killing streak by fighting back from a set down to eliminate world number 18 Anderson and reach the last four at the Wimbledon warm-up for the first time in nine years.
“It’s great to beat a top guy, but it’s even tougher to back it up with a win again,” said 15th seed Stepanek, who is bidding to win his first singles’ title since 2011 in Washington.