LONDON: Reigning champion Sam Querrey was back in the groove at Queen's as the American began his defense of the grass-court title with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Japan's Kei Nishikori Monday. Querrey was the surprise winner of Queen's last year after beating Mardy Fish in an all-American final and the big-serving 13th seed marked his return to the annual Wimbledon warmup event with a convincing first round victory. Querrey advanced to a second round meeting with Germany's Rainer Schuettler, a 6-1, 6-1 winner against American qualifier Bobby Reynolds. Former Wimbledon junior champion Donald Young of the United States also advanced to the second round after overcoming Austria's Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2. Meanwhile, Spain's Feliciano Lopez defeated Dmitry Tursunov 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a second round clash with four-time champion Andy Roddick. Wimbledon marathon man Nicolas Mahut sprinted into the second round with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over British wildcard Oliver Golding. French 10th seed Michael Llodra cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 win against Jaroslav Pospisil. Thomaz Bellucci, the Brazilian 11th seed, fought back to beat Grigor Dimitrov 3-6, 7-6 (10/8), 6-2. Germany's Michael Berrer beat American wildcard Ryan Harrison 7-6 (9/7), 2-6, 7-5 to earn a meeting with French fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. French qualifier Arnaud Clement will play eighth seed Marin Cilic after beating compatriot Benoit Paire 7-5, 6-3. Dolgopolov advances At Halle, Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine needed three sets but fought through to the second round of the Gerry Weber Open Monday. Seventh-seeded Dolgopolov dropped the first set before coming back to beat Robin Haase of Netherlands 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4. Dolgopolov was the only seeded player to hit the courts on the opening day of the tournament. Earlier, 2008 Halle finalist Philipp Kohlschreiber disposed of fellow German Cedrik-Marcel Stebe 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. In the other action, Igor Andreev of Russia beat Potito Starace of Italy 6-4, 6-4, while Jan Hernych of Czech Republic battled past Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (8). Ivan Dodig of Croatia fended off Spain's Pere Riba and Yen-hsun Lu of Taiwan pushed past Jarkko Nieminen of Finland — both players winning in straight sets. Roger Federer pulled out of the Gerry Weber Open grass-court tournament to rest his groin ahead of Wimbledon. Lucic thru In Birmingham, former Wimbledon semifinalist Mirjana Lucic of Croatia advanced to the second round of the Aegon Classic grass-court tournament Monday, beating American qualifier Alexandra Stevenson 6-3, 7-6 (7). The 29-year-old Lucic made the semis at Wimbledon in 1999 as a promising 17-year-old, but was absent from the WTA tour for much of the last decade for personal reasons. Another former Wimbledon semifinalist, Kimiko Date-Krumm, lost 6-4, 7-6 (3) to Sabine Lisicki of Germany. Other winners included 13th-seeded Rebecca Marino of Canada, who defeated Melanie South of Britain 6-4, 6-1, and No. 14 Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia, who ousted Emily Webley-Smith of Britain 6-3, 6-4. Alison Riske of the US rallied to beat Urszula Radwanska of Poland 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
