Andy Murray made history at Queen's Club as the defending champion fought back to win the Wimbledon warm-up event for a record fifth time with a 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-3 victory over Milos Raonic Sunday. Murray was on the ropes for a set and a half in west London, but the world No. 2 staged a gritty revival to surpass a group of eight four-time Queen's champions including John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt. The 29-year-old survived a barrage of 14 aces from Raonic to finally subdue the Canadian fifth seed in two hours and 13 minutes, in the process becoming the first player to successfully defend the title since Roddick in 2005. He recovered from 3-0 down in the second set and now has a remarkable 30-5 match record on the grass at Queen's, a venue that has remained close to the Scot's heart since he secured the first ATP Tour match win of his career against Santiago Ventura in 2005. It was Murray's 37th career ATP title and his second of 2016 as the former Wimbledon champion erased the bitter taste of French Open final defeat against Novak Djokovic two weeks ago. Despite picking up the oversized trophy, a check for £322,126 ($460,000, 410,000 euros) and 500 ranking points, the most significant prize of the week for Murray is the knowledge he is in peak form ahead of his bid to dethrone Djokovic at Wimbledon, which gets under way on June 27. Murray's success maintained his 100 percent record in Queen's finals in the week he reunited with coach Ivan Lendl, who will have relished getting the better of old rival McEnroe in his new role as Raonic's coach. Mayer wins Halle title Germany's world number 192 Florian Mayer defeated teenage compatriot Alexander Zverev 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 to win the Halle grass court title Sunday. The 32-year-old is the lowest-ranked champion in the 24-year history of the Wimbledon warm-up event. It is Mayer's second career title after Bucharest in 2013 and was clinched on a fifth match point. Zverev, 19 and ranked 38 in the world, had knocked out defending champion Roger Federer in the semifinals Saturday. The key to the final proved to be Mayer breaking to love after reeling off 11 straight points for a 5-2 lead. The German would save a break point when serving for the match before closing it out on his fifth championship point after one hour and 55 minutes. Mayer, who stunned world No. 7 Dominic Thiem in the semifinals, joins Tommy Haas (2009, 2012), Philipp Kohlschreiber (2011), David Prinosil (2000), Nicolas Kiefer (1999) and Michael Stich (1994) as German champions on the Halle grass. Zverev was bidding for his maiden career title in just his second final, following defeat on the clay of Nice last month to Thiem. Keys captures 2nd career title in Birmingham American Madison Keys celebrated moving into the world's top 10 for the first time by winning the grass title in Birmingham in emphatic style Sunday. The seventh seed eased to a 6-3, 6-4 win over the unseeded Czech veteran Barbora Strycova, setting her up perfectly for a tilt at the Wimbledon crown in a week's time. Keys, for whom this was a second WTA title, is the first US woman to debut in the top 10 since Serena Williams in 1999. The 21-year-old produced some ferocious hitting, but although she made fewer errors compared with earlier in the week, there remained inconsistancies which allowed Strycova chances to get a grip on the second set. With Wimbledon just eight days away, Chris Evert, three times a Wimbledon champion, tweeted her expectations of her compatriot. "She's no flash in the pan. She's had to do it in her time - but now she's ready," Evert wrote. In the semifinals, Keys beat Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 and Strycova downed CoCo Vandeweghe of the United States 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. Garcia takes Mallorca title France's sixth seed Caroline Garcia warmed up for Wimbledon by capturing the inaugural grass-court Mallorca Open title Sunday with victory over Anastasija Sevastova. Garcia, ranked 39th in the world and reigning French Open women's doubles champion, sealed the first grass-court crown of her career with a 6-3, 6-4 win over the 82nd-ranked Latvian. It was the 22-year-old Garcia's second tournament win this season after Strasbourg. — Agencies
