LONDON — Rafael Nadal suffered a shock first round exit from the Wimbledon warm-up event at Queen's Club as the Spanish star was beaten 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-4 by unheralded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov Tuesday. Nadal's dismal defeat against world No. 79 Dolgopolov was the latest in a growing list of lackluster performances in a troubled 2015 campaign for the former world No. 1. The 14-time Grand Slam winner was beaten at the French Open for only the second time in his glittering career when Novak Djokovic won their quarterfinal clash in Paris. As a result, Nadal's ranking has plunged to 10th — his lowest position for a decade — and to add insult to injury he will now head to Wimbledon, which gets underway later this month, with renewed questions about a decline that hit a new low with this setback in west London. Three-time Queen's champion Andy Murray had no such problems as he saw off Taiwanese qualifier Lu Yen-Hsun 6-4, 7-5. The 28-year-old top seed is coming off the best clay-court campaign of his career after taking titles in Madrid and Munich before pushing Djokovic to five sets in the French Open semifinals. He was never at his best against Lu, who enjoyed one of the best moments of his career when he defeated Murray at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. But the former Wimbledon winner had enough guile to eventually subdue the 31-year-old world No. 63 and set up a second-round clash with Spain's Fernando Verdasco. Meanwhile, French Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka returned to action after his Paris triumph with a 6-3, 6-4 dismissal of Australian rising star Nick Kyrgios. There was better news for another promising Australian as 19-year-old Thanasi Kokkinakis defeated Jeremy Chardy 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 6-4 to earn a clash with French seventh seed Gilles Simon, a 6-7 (6-8), 7-5, 6-2 winner against Belgium's David Goffin. Defending Queen's champion Grigor Dimitrov moved into the second round, where he faces Gilles Muller, after a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory against 2010 winner Sam Querrey. Nishikori, Monfils advance In Germany, second-seeded Kei Nishikori won a close contest against Dominic Thiem of Austria 7-6 (4) 7-5 to reach the second round of the Gerry Weber Open Tuesday. The Japanese saved nine of 10 break points he faced to set up a second-round clash with Dustin Brown of Germany. No. 4-seeded Gael Monfils beat Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4, but No. 7 Bernard Tomic crashed out against Steve Johnson. The American had 12 aces in winning 6-3, 7-6 (4). No. 8 Ivo Karlovic blasted 28 aces to overcome Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 6-7, (4), 6-4, 6-4. Ernests Gulbis and Mikhail Kukushkin also advanced at the grass-court event, a tune-up for Wimbledon. Azarenka has high hopes In Birmingham, former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka says she still dreams of winning Wimbledon, despite revealing some of the frustrations and uncertainties she has suffered in the last couple of years. Repeated injuries have prevented Azarenka from winning a title for 22 months, and she endured an up-and-down first round at the Wimbledon warm-up event Tuesday. She was five times within a point of going 0-5 down against Varvara Lepchenko, an American ranked outside the top 30, before fighting back, with a mixture of fierce hitting and varying confidence, to win 7-6 (9-7), 6-4. She next plays Zarina Diyas, the world No. 34 from Kazakhstan, and could have a quarterfinal with Karolina Pliskova, the impressively rising world No. 12 from the Czech Republic. Earlier another former world number one, Jelena Jankovic, also made a winning start. The Serbian is also making her way back from injuries and overcame Tereza Smitkova, the world No. 62 from the Czech Republic, 6-4,6-4. — Agencies
