Lopez seals second Queen's Club title after his victory here in 2017
Monday 24 June 2019 09:30, UK
Feliciano Lopez won the Fever-Tree Championships in a marathon three-set battle on Sunday to become the first wild card at Queen's Club to do so since 1999.
The 37-year-old took a break from his role as Andy Murray's support act to add to the title he won here two years ago, defeating Gilles Simon in the singles final 6-2 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-2) to emulate Pete Sampras in becoming the first wild card winner here for 20 years.
"I don't know how I did that," Lopez said during his on-court interview. "The whole match was very exciting. I took the early set but then he got better and better. It was tough for me to find a way to win points.
"He was coming up with unbelievable shots and I was a bit desperate.
"I thought the best moment of my career was when I held the trophy in 2017 but it's not. It's right now."
Spaniard Lopez went above and beyond the call of duty on Saturday, putting in a superhuman effort by spending just under five hours on court to reach the final of both the singles and doubles, and he spent another two hours and 50 minutes seeing off Simon in a battle of attrition.
The Frenchman has gone the distance in all five of his singles matches in the tournament, including the longest in the history of Queen's Club against Nicolas Mahut, a three-hour, 20-minute marathon on Thursday.
But Lopez, the world No 113, continued his inspirational form this week to secure a seventh career title - four of them coming on grass.
