Swirling winds threw the Wimbledon preparations of Fernando Gonzalez and Novak Djokovic off course on Friday when they were upstaged at Queen's Club. Third seed Gonzalez took out his anger on his racket as he let a 4-2 lead in the final set slip away, allowing Russian Dmitry Tursunov to carve out a 6-3 6-7 6-4 quarter-final win in a match that was twice interrupted by showers.
Serbian fourth seed Djokovic, a semi-finalist at Roland Garros last week, also found the slick surface was not to his liking. He was humbled 2-6 6-3 6-4 by France's Arnaud Clement in a third-round encounter as dark clouds gathered over west London.
Like Clement, French Open champion Rafael Nadal will have to contest back-to-back matches on day five of the grasscourt championships. The Spanish top seed had been on the brink of winning his match on Thursday when rain suspended play for the day. On resumption, he needed just three minutes to swat aside Max Mirnyi 7-6 6-3, with the Belarussian winning only one point on Friday before bowing out.
Nadal, runner-up to Roger Federer at Wimbledon last July, will next test his grasscourt credentials against Nicolas Mahut. Mahut completed a good day for the French when he claimed the scalp of fifth seed Ivan Ljubicic 7-6 6-3.
At 4-2 up in the decider, Gonzalez looked to be heading towards a possible semi-final showdown with three-times former champion Andy Roddick when he capitulated in blustery conditions. Struggling to control Tursunov's powerful groundstrokes, the Chilean smashed his racket to the ground when the Russian drew level at 4-4.
Gonzalez was given a code violation and surrendered his title prospects two games later with a forehand into the net. Clement's prize for engineering Djokovic's downfall was a date with the tallest man in the sport, 2.08-metre Croatian Ivo Karlovic.
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