Norrie beaten at Queen’s on injury return

Cameron Norrie was beaten by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina at Queen’s in the Briton’s first singles match since suffering a rib injury in May.

Norrie has often been the last Briton standing at Grand Slams but had to retire injured from his first-round French Open match with the problem last month.

He returned to the court in the men’s doubles at Queen’s on Monday, where he and Australian partner Alex de Minaur lost 6-4 7-5 to India’s Yuki Bhambri and Michael Venus of New Zealand.

On Tuesday, the British number one started strongly against world number 22 Davidovich Fokina but ultimately faded to a 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 loss.

Norrie went an early break up against the Spaniard but Davidovich Fokina responded straight away, before holding firm in the tie-break.

Despite finding himself on the floor at several points as he dived and slid around the court, Davidovich Fokina broke Norrie’s serve twice on his way to closing out victory.

Norrie is one of five Britons to have direct entry into the Wimbledon main draw and will be seeded when the tournament begins on Monday, 29 June.

Earlier, Arthur Fery won an all-British battle in emphatic style, beating Toby Samuel 6-0 6-2.

The pair are good friends, having reached the junior doubles semi-finals at Wimbledon together in 2019, and both received Wimbledon main-draw wildcards on Tuesday.

“It’s never easy playing someone you know and I was happy with how I handled that,” Fery said.

Third seed and French Open semi-finalist Jakub Mensik suffered a surprise 5-7 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-5) loss to veteran French man Adrian Mannarino.

In Halle, French Open champion Alexander Zverev survived a second-set wobble in his first match since his Paris triumph, beating Czech Vit Kopriva 6-3 4-6 6-2 to reach the second round.

Defending champion Alexander Bublik was shocked 7-6 (8-6) 6-1 by Italy’s Mattia Bellucci, while Andrey Rublev fell 6-3 6-2 to Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz.