LONDON: Briton Andy Murray withstood an athletic onslaught from Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to beat the Frenchman 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 and win the final of the Queen's Club championships Monday. The climax of the Wimbledon warmup event was being held a day late after rain washed out play Sunday and, while conditions stayed dry, Murray weathered the storm of Tsonga's fast groundstrokes, diving volleys and energetic charges. “He was playing a different sport to me in the first two sets. I've never seen anyone dive so much,” the world No. 4 grinned in a courtside interview. Murray, who picked up his second Queen's trophy after also triumphing in 2009, goes into next week's grasscourt Grand Slam at the All England Club having given the British public and media even more reason than usual to set expectations high. Having dished out a grasscourt masterclass to American Andy Roddick in the semifinals, Murray was forced to play a different game against Tsonga who hurled every imaginable shot at the Briton while also throwing his body across the court. The Frenchman's high-risk strategy of attack had looked like paying off before an unlucky net cord in the 11th game of the second set prevented him from breaking to serve for the match. The ball bounced off the top of the net and had looked like it would make it over the net before dropping down on the wrong side in what was a major turning point in the match. World No. 4 Murray later took the momentum into the tiebreak which he won with ease 7-2. Using a couple of outlandish shots himself, the determined Scot dominated the final set and wrapped up the title with a smash. Lisicki claims crown Sabine Lisicki, who slipped outside the world's top 200 last year after seven weeks on crutches, beat fourth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 6-3, 6-2 to win the Aegon Classic Monday. The 21-year-old German, whose only previous tour victory was in Charleston in 2007, secured her second career title after the final had been postponed from Sunday due to rain. Venus in winning return Venus Williams finally beat Andrea Petkovic Monday. Five months after a hip injury forced her to retire against Petkovic after one game of their third-round match at the Australian Open, Venus beat the German 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 in her first match back at Easbourne to complete a successful start to her Wimbledon preparations. The 30-year-old Williams was clearly rusty. She began the match with two double-faults and she made a series of unforced errors, particularly off the forehand side. But the five-time Wimbledon champion's grass-court experience, and greater aggression, saw her through. In other matches, third-seeded Victoria Azarenka beat Peng Shuai of China 6-4, 7-6 (2), while fifth-seeded Petra Kvitova recovered from a slow start to defeat Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 5-7, 6-1, 6-3. The men's tournament also began Monday. There were first-round wins for Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic and Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria. However, the second-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov went out, beaten 7-5, 6-2 by Argentina's Carlos Berlocq. Clijsters wins In the Netherlands, top-seeded Kim Clijsters beat Monica Niculescu 7-5, 7-5 Monday in the first round of the Unicef Open, a grass-court warmup for Wimbledon. In the men's tournament, top-seeded Nicolas Amalgro lost to Michael Berrer of Germany 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4. Second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia also advanced, beating Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands 6-2, 6-4. Marcos Baghdatis also reached the second round, beating Arnaud Clement 7-6 (4), 6-3.
