Nick Kyrgios has continued his impressive Wimbledon build-up with a straight-sets win over giant-killing American Sam Querrey at The Boodles exhibition event.
Querrey famously ended the title defences of Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon over the past two years, but was unable to crack Kyrgios's untouchable serve in a 6-4 7-6 (9-7) loss on Wednesday.
Kyrgios's latest success comes after semi-final appearances at his two Wimbledon grass-court lead-up events in Stuttgart and Queen's, where it took last year's All England Club finalists Roger Federer and Marin Cilic respectively to take the in-form Australian out.
Seeded 16th for this year's grass-court grand slam starting on Monday, Kyrgios said The Boodles offered the perfect tune-up, low-key but competitive.
"The courts play well, they play similar to Wimbledon," he said.
""It's fun, laid-back, it's a great atmosphere. I'd rather play matches than practice, so it's another opportunity to get some time on the grass."
A quarter-finalist at the Grand Slam in 2014 and fourth-round loser in 2015 and 2016, Kyrgios once again has hopes for Wimbledon after being forced out of his first-round match last year with a hip injury.
"I'm looking forward to it," he said.
""Last year I was injured, didn't perform well. It's one of my favourite tournaments and I'd like to do much better than last year. I feel very confident.
"I definitely have expectations. I'd like to do very well - second week would be great. Any further for me is where I'm expecting myself to go."
While he fell just short against Kyrgios, Querrey is also optimistic ahead of his return to Wimbledon, where he's seeded 11th and again expected to cause some damage.
"Exhibitions work for me, I can work on things I can use in an official match," the American said.
"So even though I lost I'm pretty happy."
Despite his success on grass in recent times, Querrey is shrugging off the pressure ahead of the next fortnight.
"Last year was fine, but this is a new year so I'm putting that behind me," he said.
"I don't really have expectations for Wimbledon, I'm just going to go out there and play the best that I can."
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