Aegon Championships - Dimitrov, Raonic Survive, Rafa Returns

Epic matches, thrilling comebacks and the return of one of the greatest and most popular tennis players of all time. That was day one at the Aegon Championships, a day Rafael Nadal when arrived after four years away, Grigor Dimitrov and Milos Raonic mounted stunning comebacks, and Lleyton Hewitt was forced to call time on his Queen’s Club singles career.

 

Nadal arrived to 14 lucky school children the surprise of their life when he jumped on court to help coach a session at The Aegon Championships in Queen’s Club, London to mark the 20,000th school supported by British Tennis.

 

Raonic came back from a one-set deficit to defeat James Ward in three, Dimitrov rescued himself from a set and 3-1 down to level with Sam Querrey overnight, but for Hewitt, there was to be no fairytale ending. He held a match point against Kevin Anderson before finally going down in three. 

 

Andy Murray will begin his Aegon Championships campaign on Tuesday on centre court against Yen-Hsun Lu. The pair have met three times previously, with the man from Chinese Taipei famously upsetting the Brit at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. But Murray won their only meeting on grass; at Wimbledon on his way to winning the trophy in 2013. The winner of that match will play Spain’s Fernando Verdasco after he saved match points to beat his compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut on day one. 

 

Elsewhere on a blockbuster day that opens with Stan Wawrinka against Nick Kyrgios, Nadal faces Alex Dolgopolov and Marin Cilic plays Adrian Mannarino.