Querrey Opens Queen's Club Title Defence; Lopez Tops Tursunov

© Getty ImagesSam Querrey won his first grass-court title last year at Queen's.

American Sam Querrey made a confident start to his AEGON Championships title defence, defeating Japan’s Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-4 on Monday at the Queen’s Club.

“I thought I served really well and moved well,” said the 13th-seeded Querrey, who broke Nishikori twice and saved all seven break points faced on serve during the one-hour, 16-minute match. “I was pretty happy for my first grass court match of the season.”

Querrey won the title last year with victory over countryman Mardy Fish in the final, and reflected on returning to the Queen’s Club as the defending champion. “It feels good,” he said. “You feel extra pressure, few extra jitters when you're out there the first match. It's a nice feeling. Hopefully it will happen more often.”

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World No. 41 Feliciano Lopez set up a second-round meeting with four-time champion Andy Roddick after recording a 7-6(4), 6-3 win over Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov. The Spaniard fired 18 aces and broke serve twice to claim victory in 90 minutes.

Last year at this ATP World Tour 250 grass-court tournament, Lopez ousted Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals before losing to Fish in the next round.

France’s Nicolas Mahut, playing his first grass-court match on British soil since last year’s marathon match against John Isner at Wimbledon, took just 70 minutes to dismiss British wild card Oliver Golding 6-3, 6-4.

Tenth-seeded Frenchman Michael Llodra, a champion last year at the grass-court tournament in Eastbourne, also cruised into the second round with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Czech Jaroslav Pospisil. 

In a contest between two British wild cards, James Ward dismissed Daniel Cox 6-3, 6-1 in 61 minutes to set a second-round clash with fourth-seeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka. The No. 216-ranked Ward won his ninth career tour-level match as he broke serve four times and won 81 per cent of points on first serve.

Former World No. 1 Stefan Edberg, the 1991 champion, took part in an on-court television interview after the first match of the day on Centre Court.