LONDON (AFP) – Spain’s Feliciano Lopez succeeded in his Queen’s Club revenge mission against world number 11 Grigor Dimitrov to set up a final showdown with Marin Cilic.
Lopez held a championship point in the 2014 Queen’s final against Dimitrov before crashing to a three-set defeat, but the world number 32 made amends for that painful loss in Saturday’s semi-finals as he beat the Bulgarian 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.
Lopez has won eight of his nine grass-court matches this year and will look to clinch his first ATP title of 2017 after losing in the Stuttgart final last week.
‘‘I’m very happy to be here in the final because it’s one of my most special tournaments,’’ Lopez said.
‘‘I would love to win this title. I knew it would be difficult today but I’ve played some of my best tennis all week.’’
Cilic became the first player to break Muller in the tournament despite a barrage of 22 aces from the world number 26 and hammered down 20 aces of his own to return to the Queen’s final for the first time since 2013.