Cameron Norrie’s bid for a first grass-court title was ended by Sebastian Korda in the quarter-finals at Queen’s.
The British number one and fifth seed was beaten 6-4 7-6 by American Korda, the world number 32. His defeat means there will be no British interest, in singles or doubles, going into the weekend at Queen’s for the first time since 2012.
Korda, who also accounted for British number two 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.
The 22-year-old, 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.”
He will face Carlos Alcaraz in the last-four, after the Spaniard beat Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 6-4. The top seed revealed this week he has been watching videos of Roger Federer and Andy Murray on grass to try and adapt to the surface, and his improvement through the rounds suggests that is certainly working.
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 Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6-4 7-5.
