David Nalbandian Disqualified From Queen's Club Final After Kicking Line Judge

The men's singles final of the Queen's Club Championship came to a bizarre end today as Argentine David Nalbandian defaulted the match after injuring a line judge.

Nalbandian had advanced to the final and was leading Marin Cilic 7-6, 3-4 at the world's second-biggest grass-court tournament when in frustration he kicked a wooden base surrounding a line judge's chair, shattering it and sending fragments into the shin of the judge.

Chair umpire Fergus Murphy immediately defaulted the match and awarded Cilic the win, making him the first Croatian player to win on grass since Goran Ivanisevic in 2001 at Wimbeldon. The default was the first in a tournament final since Pete Sampras defeated Greg Rusedski in San Jose in 1997.

If Nalbandian could have held on and avoided kicking anything else, it would have been his 12th career victory. [BBC]