Gasquet in shock exit as rain hits Queen’s

Fourth seed Richard Gasquet suffered a surprise first-round defeat at Queen’s Club as rain wiped out most of the schedule.

Gasquet, the world number 10 and twice a semi-finalist on the grass at Wimbledon, was beaten 7-6 6-2 by American Steve Johnson, in the only main-draw match to be played on Monday.

It was a fine comeback by Johnson, ranked 19 places below the Frenchman, having been 4-0 down in the opening set.

Rain delayed the start and intermittent showers returned during the players’ warm-up and then again after the first two games, both won by Gasquet.

When they came out for a third time, Gasquet seemed to be cruising – only for Johnson to pull it back to 5-5 by the time the heavens opened once more.

The pair came back late in the day to finish, with the first set won on a tiebreak by Johnson, 7-2.

Gasquet took his frustrations out on his racquet as he dropped the opening game of the second set, and never recovered from being broken again in game five.

Johnson will play either Guillermo Garcia-Lopez or Alexandr Dolgopolov in the second round.

Three other singles matches due on centre court – including Britain’s Dan Evans against Paul-Henri Mathieu – were cancelled.