Defending champion Berrettini scrapes past Kudla and into quarter-finals

Defending champion Matteo Berrettini battled into the quarter-finals of the cinch Championships at London’s Queen’s Club on Thursday by edging out American lucky loser Denis Kudla 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4.

No 2 seed Berrettini, ranked No 10, will play American Tommy Paul in the last eight on Friday.

Berrettini is now on a six-match winning streak since returning to the Tour, having won the title in Stuttgart last weekend after missing the entire clay-court season due to a hand injury, which required an operation.

Kudla forced him to dig deep and but for a couple of missed opportunities, he might have finished off the match. Instead, Berrettini held on, though he was not quite sure how.

The Italian won against Daniel Evans (6-3, 6-3) ahead of his victory. In the previous round of the Queen’s Championships, Kudla, ranked No 82, edged out Italian Lorenzo Sonego (6-4, 3-6, 6-4).

London ATP 500, other second-round results (Queen’s Club, grass, EUR 2.275.275, most recent results first):

• Filip Krajinovic vs. Sam Querrey
• Ryan Peniston vs. Francisco Cerundolo
• Tommy Paul beat Stan Wawrinka: 6-1, 6-4
• Marin Čilić (7) beat Alexander Bublik: 7-6 (6), 7-5
• Emil Ruusuvuori (Q) beat Jack Draper (WC): 6-2, 7-6 (2)
• Botic van de Zandschulp beat Grigor Dimitrov: 7-6 (5), 6-3
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat Alex De Minaur: 4-6, 6-4, 7-5

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