American duo Korda and Shelton seal opening wins at Queen's Club Championships as Brits Norrie and Peniston also star
ATP
The opening day of action at the Queen's Club Championships saw a very British American feel to proceedings with the first grass court action in London this week.
Cameron Norrie is one of the big Brits in action this week and was in a dominant mood as he surged past Miomir Kecmanovic 6-4, 7-6 to reach the second round.
Like many other Brits, he excels on this surface losing to Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of Wimbledon last year and took little time to adjust to the conditions and put on a show.
He sealed a 30th tour level win of the season on a fifth match point after just over an hour and he will face Jordan Thompson or the returning Milos Raonic.
Many remarked that one player that seems to come out of the woodwork during the grass court season is Ryan Peniston.
The 27-year-old Brit dazzled last year with five tour-level wins and advancing to the Quarter-Finals at Queen's Club last year. He made light work of Ugo Humbert 6-4, 6-2.
American rising as Korda and Shelton through
As alluded to the Americans were also distinctly in the winners' circle taking a leaf out of Frances Tiafoe (also in action this week)'s book who won Stuttgart last week.
Ben Shelton on his opening foray on the surface showed no signs of not being able to play on it as he saw off compatriot, J.J Wolf 7-6, 7-6 to reach the second round.
He rallied from a break down in the first set and the World No.34 now takes on Lorenzo Musetti in a popcorn second round clash.
But while Norrie anchored Brit hopes, Dan Evans couldn't join him as the new version of Sebastian Korda opened up the grass court season.
Korda demonstrated his all court game as he sliced superbly in a 90 minute win to reach the second round on his tournament debut 6-4, 7-5. He now faces Tiafoe in the second round.
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