Rafael Nadal was dealt a setback in his Wimbledon preparations when he was beaten at the Queen's Club grass-court tournament Friday. Nadal, the French Open champion, fell 7-6 (5), 6-4 to compatriot Feliciano Lopez in the quarterfinals, a result that ended Nadal's grass-court winning streak at 14 matches. Britain's Andy Murray, seeded third, was another surprise loser when he went down 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (2) to the American Mardy Fish in a delayed third-round match. It ensured the top six seeds are missing from the semifinal lineup in west London, a traditional warmup for Wimbledon, which begins June 21. In the last four Saturday, Fish takes on Lopez and seventh-seeded Sam Querrey, of the US, faces the winner of the Rainer Schuettler-Dudi Sela quarterfinal. Querrey beat Belgium's Xavier Malisse 6-3, 7-5 in their quarterfinal, while the unseeded Fish earned his semifinal spot by returning later Friday to oust Michael Llodra 6-4, 6-4. Nadal was unable to subdue a lively challenge from Lopez in the first meeting on grass of the two left-handers. After an exchange of breaks in the opening two games, the first set went to a tiebreaker that Lopez sneaked 7-5 when Nadal netted a forehand. In the second set, Lopez broke to lead 3-2 but Nadal leveled in the next game by breaking with a winning return. Nadal then faced two break points at 5-4 and double-faulted to leave Lopez serving for the match. Nadal reported no problems with the leg injury that was treated on Thursday, but withdrew from the doubles citing a right hamstring strain. He plans to return to Spain for a few days of relaxation before preparing for Wimbledon. Murray was upset on Thursday when his match with Fish was halted at 3-3 in the final set because of fading light. When they resumed Friday, he and Fish dropped just one point on serve as the set went to a tiebreaker, which Fish dominated after the first four points had gone against serve. Federer, Hewitt in semis In Germany, Roger Federer remains on course for a sixth Gerry Weber Open title after he defeated Germany's No. 1 Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-5, 6-3 Friday to book his place in the semifinals. Federers 28th consecutive victory on Center Court of the Gerry Weber Stadion set up a tie with Philipp Petzschner Saturday and left the No. 1 seed undefeated at Germany's only grass-court tournament since 2002. It took the second-ranked Federer just over an hour to assert his superiority against Kohlschreiber. Federer will play Petzschner of Germany in the last four. The other semifinal will be contested between Lleyton Hewitt and another German player Benjamin Becker. Eighth-seeded Hewitt defeated Andreas Beck 7-6 (0), 6-1 while Becker got the better of compatriot Mischa Zverev 7-6 (4), 6-0. Sharapova back in semis In Birmingham, Maria Sharapova dispatched Kazakh qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva 6-2, 6-4 to reach the Aegon Classic semifinals again Friday. Sharapova has made the last four in all seven visits to Birmingham, where the Edgbaston Priory Club has made her an honorary life member. Sharapova next plays Alison Riske, a 19-year-old qualifier from the US who has never risen higher than 188 in the world but who scored a memorable 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3 win over Yanina Wickmayer, the third-seeded player from Belgium. Aravane Rezai of France also advanced beating Sara Errani of Italy 7-6 (7-2), 7
