Andy Murray suffers major blow in Wimbledon preparation after first round defeat at Queen's

<p>Andy Murray's preparations for Wimbledon suffered a setback when he was beaten 6-3 6-1 by Alex De Minaur in the first round of the cinch Championships.</p>

<p>A five-time champion at the tournament, Murray had won 10 matches in a row in claiming back-to-back grass-court titles in Surbiton and Nottingham.</p>

<p>But Australian seventh seed De Minaur - the world number 18 - was a major step up in class and probably one of the trickiest first-round opponents Murray could have drawn.</p>

<p>The 24-year-old certainly knew his way around a grass court; he is a former Eastbourne champion and reached the fourth round at Wimbledon last year.</p>

<p>He was simply too strong for 36-year-old Murray, sending him spinning to a defeat which means, barring an unlikely raft of withdrawals, that he will not be seeded at Wimbledon next month.</p>

<p>Murray probably needed to reach the quarter-finals at least to have a chance of being one of the top 32 players at SW19, but now the two-time champion - currently ranked 38 - is at risk of facing one of the big guns in the early rounds.</p>

<p>"I knew I was pretty much either going to have to make a final here if I didn't do well in Surbiton and Nottingham, or if I won both of those events, it was looking like at least a quarter-final to do it," said Murray.</p>

<p>"I was aware of that before all of the matches that I played the last few weeks. I dealt with it fine the last two weeks. So, yeah, I don't think it had any bearing on how I played today."</p>

<p>Despite the setback, Murray believes he can still mix it with many of the seeded players at Wimbledon.</p>

<p>"Yeah, I think so," he added. "You know, obviously grass, there are less players that are probably comfortable on the surface than the clay and the hard courts.</p>

<p>"You know, some of the seeded players are maybe not that comfortable on the grass, so there's some draws that are better than others."</p>

<p>Murray's appearance in the singles may have been fleeting, but tournament organisers will at least be relieved he has opted to play doubles with British number one Cameron Norrie; they face Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram on Wednesday evening.</p>

<p>They were breathing a sigh of relief earlier on Tuesday when Carlos Alcaraz survived a scare.</p>

<p>The top seed and world number two insisted he can challenge on the grass this summer despite needing a third-set tie-break to beat French journeyman Arthur Rinderknech.</p>

<p>The 20-year-old was playing only his seventh match on the surface, and his first outside of Wimbledon.</p>

<p>Lucky loser Rinderknech only found out he was playing the Spaniard shortly before midday after fellow Frenchman Arthur Fils, Alcaraz's scheduled opponent, withdrew from the tournament.</p>

<p>But the 27-year-old almost knocked the headline act out, taking the first set and giving Alcaraz an uncomfortable afternoon before going down 4-6 7-5 7-6 (3) in just over two-and-a-half hours.</p>

<p>Alcaraz, the US Open champion who was playing his first match since losing to Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals at Roland Garros, said: "It has been a really tough match, he has played four or five matches on the grass and this was my first one.</p>

<p>"It was really difficult to adapt my game to the grass. For me it's tough to play here, but Queen's is a tournament I really wanted to play.</p>

<p>"I couldn't play tennis on grass at home but I practised the movement on grass. I practised here a little bit before the tournament and I felt really good, even though it was the first match.</p>

<p>"I would say I'm going to be better in the next round."</p>

<p>Britain's Liam Broady was denied a notable win after world number 46 Adrian Mannarino came from a set down to win in three.</p>

<p>Broady, ranked 97 places behind the Frenchman at 143, raced away with the first set but was pegged back in a 1-6 6-4 6-3 defeat.</p>

<p>Fellow Brit Ryan Peniston - who beat Ugo Humbert on Monday - will face second seed Holger Rune in round two after the Danish youngster won 7-6 (4) 7-6 (3) against Maxime Cressy for his first career victory on grass.</p>

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