AEGON CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Venue: Queen's Tennis Club, London
- Date: 6-12 June
- Coverage: Live coverage on BBC Two, online (UK only) and BBC HD and text commentary (#bbctennis) on BBC Sport website; and commentary on Radio 5 live and sports extra
British number two James Ward continued his superb run at the Aegon Championships with victory over defending champion Sam Querrey in the third round.
Ward returned to complete the match after bad light stopped play on Thursday evening with the score level at one set all, and he got the key break to clinch the decider for a 3-6 6-3 6-4 win over the world number 26.The 24-year-old Londoner - ranked 216 in the world - moves on to a quarter-final against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino later on Friday, weather permitting.
With Andy Murray already through to the semi-finals without hitting a ball, following an ankle injury to Marin Cilic, Britain has two players in the last eight at Queen's Club for the first time since Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski reached that stage in 2001.
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"It's unbelieveable [to get this far]," he told BBC Sport. "These past two matches are the best of my career."
Querrey had been struggling with an elbow injury on Thursday but came out firing for the final set shoot-out, which was moved from Centre Court to Court One as the schedule was rearranged because of the constant threat of more rain.
The 6ft 6in American hammered down two aces when under pressure at 15-30 in game three but was unable to make any impression on the Ward serve, and the Briton made the decisive breakthrough in game seven.
A wayward Querrey backhand gave Ward a break point and he attacked the net behind some fierce forehands before angling away a backhand volley, consolidating the break impressively with a love hold. All that remained was to close out the match and, not surprisingly, there were nervous moments for the Englishman when a loose backhand offered Querrey a break-back point, but the serve came to his rescue and he thundered down an unreturnable effort on his second match point.
"My serve helped me out [today] and I also played all right from the back as well, so it was a good performance overall."
Ward can harbour realistic hopes of joining Murray in the semis as he now faces the other surprise man of the tournament, world number 54 Mannarino, though the British weather might delay that encounter.
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