Three-time champion Andy Murray won his second-round match, while defending titlist Grigor Dimitrov will not be a repeat champ at the $1.775 million Aegon Championships, a grass-court Wimbledon tune-up.
The top-seeded British star Murray improved to 22-5 at this tournament by handling Spanish left-hander Fernando Verdasco 7-5, 6-4 at the prestigious Queen's Club.
"Fernando is obviously an extremely powerful guy and you don't have a chance to get into some of the rallies. But he didn't serve so well which gave me a few opportunities," Murray said.
"I was happy with the way I moved -- it was better than the first match."
If Murray wins the giant silver trophy here on Sunday he would join Boris Becker, John McEnroe, Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt as the joint record winner at this event.
The 2015 Aussie Open runner-up and former Wimbledon titlist Murray will face Luxembourg's Gilles Muller in Friday's quarterfinals.
The left-handed world No. 48 Muller ousted the sixth-seeded Bulgarian star Dimitrov 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), as Muller struck 19 aces en route to the finish line on Day 4.
"It's a tough loss for me," Dimitrov said. "It's never easy when you lose your title, but that's part of the game.
"I'm going to have quite a few days to get ready for Wimbledon and I'm sure I'm going to turn things around."
Dimitrov beat Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in last year's Queen's Club finale.
Also on Day 4, Serbian Viktor Troicki popped 16 aces in knocking out fourth- seeded U.S. Open champ Marin Cilic 6-7 (8-10), 6-2, 6-3 and American John Isner took out an eighth-seeded Lopez 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (9-11), 7-6 (7-4) in 65- ace affair. The 6-foot-10 Isner swatted 38 aces, while the left-handed Lopez settled for 29 in a losing effort.
Cilic was the Queen's Club winner in 2012 and runner-up to Murray in 2013.
Friday's other quarterfinals will pit third-seeded Canadian slugger Milos Raonic against seventh-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon, Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez versus South African Kevin Anderson and Troicki against Isner.
[SportsNetwork.com]
