Nottingham Open 2023: Heather Watson and George Loffhagen into quarter-finals but Liam Broady and Arthur Fery lose

Britain’s Heather Watson and George Loffhagen gained superb wins to reach the Nottingham Open quarter-finals.

Watson, 31, is ranked 195th in the world but won 6-4 6-4 against Germany’s Tatjana Maria, the world number 66.

Twenty-two-year-old Loffhagen, 414th in the rankings, caused a shock to defeat China’s Shang Juncheng 6-4 5-7 6-3.

But Liam Broady and Arthur Fery lost in their men’s singles last-16 ties, while top seed Maria Sakkari was beaten by Alize Cornet in the women’s tournament.

A minute’s silence was held on Centre Court at the start of Wednesday’s play after three people were killed and another three injured in attacks in Nottingham earlier this week.

Two 19-year-old students and a man in his 50s were stabbed to death in the city centre on Tuesday morning.

Watson and Maria have been doubles partners, reaching the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at Wimbledon in 2018.

Both players traded breaks of serve early in the first set before Watson got the crucial break in the seventh game.

It was a similar story in the second set with them both dropping a service game. Watson then missed three break points in the seventh game but got the decisive break two games later.

“I came through qualifying and each match I’ve got a bit better but there’s more to come,” Watson said.

“I’m really happy with the direction it is moving in so I’m really looking forward to the next match.

“Tatjana is my best friend on tour, we have played doubles together and spent a lot of time together. It’s never easy to play a friend but at the same time it’s really special sharing the court with her.”

In the quarter-finals, Watson will play Swiss world number 99 Viktorija Golubic, to whom she lost 7-5 6-2 in the last 16 at Nottingham in 2022.

Top seed Sakkari of Greece was eliminated, losing 6-1 6-4 to France’s Cornet.

“I feel very good on grass,” said Cornet. “In 16 years I’ve never come here so my goal was to play as many weeks on grass as possible and win as many games as possible before Wimbledon.”

British number one Katie Boulter and compatriots Jodie Burrage and Harriet Dart play their last-16 ties on Thursday.

Boulter, who replaced the injured Emma Raducanu as the top Briton earlier this week, needs to win against Ukrainian lucky loser Daria Snigur to have a chance of staying top of the rankings.

In the men’s event, Loffhagen gained his first victory at a Challenger event on Tuesday and backed that up with a victory over Shang, who is ranked 176th in the world.

But Broady lost 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 to Japan’s Sho Shimabukuro before Fery was beaten 6-4 6-2 by fifth seed Dominik Koepfer, who at 95th, is ranked 314 places above the Briton.

Fery had earned his maiden Challenger Tour main-draw victory on Tuesday when he rallied to beat former world number 21 Steve Johnson, and he is hoping that victory helps him get a wildcard into the qualifying tournament for next month’s Wimbledon.

Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray won the Surbiton Trophy last week – his first title on British soil since 2016 – and plays France’s Hugo Grenier on Thursday.

If Murray, looking to move up from 44th to get into the top 32 to be seeded for Wimbledon, wins he could face fellow Briton Ryan Peniston or Switzerland’s Dominic Stricker in the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile in the Libema Open in the Netherlands, Britain’s Neal Skupski and Dutch team-mate Wesley Koolhof moved into the quarter-finals of the men’s doubles.

The top-seeded pairing, who lost in the US Open final last year, overcame Dutch duo Matwe Middelkoop and Bart Stevens 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 10-7.