Cameron Norrie’s bid for a first grass-court title was ended by Sebastian Korda
in the quarter-finals of the cinch Championship at Queen’s Club.
The British No 1, seeded five, was beaten 6-4 7-6 (7-1) by American Korda, the world No 32.
His defeat means there will be no British interest, in singles or doubles, going into the weekend at Queen’s Club for the first time since 2012.
Korda, who recently recovered from three months out with a wrist injury, said: “It’s massive. I’m playing really well on grass, I feel comfortable and I’m really enjoying myself here.
“As many matches as I can get, I’m always super happy. Everything is clicking right now.”
Korda, who also accounted for Dan Evans in the first round, broke Norrie for 3-2 and had another break point for 5-2 in the opening set.
Norrie wriggled out of that tight spot with a pair of aces, but he was unable to prevent Korda wrapping up the set in 37 minutes.
Norrie, runner-up here in 2021 and a Wimbledon semi-finalist last year, hauled a break back for 3-3 in the second, the first time he had got anywhere near the Korda serve.
But Korda, the son of former Australian Open winner Petr and brother of major champion golfer Nelly, raced away with the tie-break to reach the last four on his Queen’s debut.
Saturday’s first semi-final will see Alex De Minaur face Danish second seed Holger Rune.
Australian De Minaur was watched by his girlfriend, Britain’s Katie Boulter, as he beat Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 6-4 4-6 6-4.
Rising star Rune, 20, got past Lorenzo Musetti 6-4 7-5 in a match spiced up when the Italian smashed an overhead straight at him.
“He can do what he wants,” said Rune. “I mean, it’s not the best thing to do, for sure. But again, it is legal. He can hit the ball where he wants to.
“It just gave me fire in the belly to beat him even more. I’m super happy to manage to beat him in two sets. It feels good. I’m in the semi-final, he’s not. So I’m happy.”
Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid will meet for the 40th time in Saturday’s wheelchair singles semi-finals after both former champions eased through their opening singles matches.
Hewett, the 2019 champion, took just 59 minutes to beat Pakistan’s Asif Abbasi 6-1 6-0, while 2021 champion Reid double-bageled India’s Manojkanth Somasundaram 6-0 6-0.
“We’ve had a few big matches in some big situations over the years,” said Reid. “We’ve only played a couple of times on grass before. Here in the final a few years ago and then at Wimbledon last year I wasn’t fully fit (while recovering from a wrist injury), so I’m looking forward to the match.
“Alfie is one of the guys to beat at the top of the game so I’m looking forward to that challenge and hopefully we can put on a good show.”
