South Africa's Kevin Anderson celebrates after beating Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland in the second round of the Aegon Tennis Championships at Queen's Club in London Wednesday. — Reuters
LONDON - French Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka was scythed back to earth by big-serving South African Kevin Anderson on the Queen's Club grass as the Swiss bowed out of the Aegon Championships 7-6(4), 7-6(11) Wednesday. Two-meter tall Anderson hurled down 22 aces, the last one on match point, to send Wawrinka spinning to his first loss since he beat world number one Novak Djokovic in spellbinding fashion in the Roland Garros final earlier this month. Anderson, the world No. 17, now has four consecutive wins against Wawrinka, the first of that sequence being the Swiss's first loss after he won the 2014 Australian Open. "That's a funny coincidence," Anderson, who is in the process of taking out duel US citizenship, told reporters after moving into the quarterfinals. "I've just played these guys a lot of times, and I think it gives me confidence, knowing the guy I beat today just won the French Open and I watched him playing and beat the best players in the world doing it.?"A lot of things I have worked on came to fruition today." Wawrinka, the second seed at the prestigious Wimbledon curtain-raiser who needed only 49 minutes to beat Nick Kyrgios on Tuesday, did not play badly.?But even his lethal backhand could make no impression on the mighty Anderson serve. He fought hard, saving five match points and he missed a golden opportunity to win the second set before succumbing. Seventh seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon earlier beat Australian teenager Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-4, 6-2 despite losing the first nine points of the match. Simon will face Milos Raonic in the quarterfinals after the Canadian third seed beat Richard Gasquet 6-4 6-7(5) 6-1. Anderson awaits the winners of Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez or Rafa Nadal's conqueror Alexandr Dolgopolov. Top seed Andy Murray was not in singles action Wednesday. He will face Fernando Verdasco Thursday. Federer stays on track World No. 2 Roger Federer comfortably beat Latvian Ernests Gulbis 6-3, 7-5 Wednesday to move into the last eight of the Halle Open where he will meet Germany's Florian Mayer. Czech Tomas Berdych, the third seed, also advanced, beating Croatian teenager Borna Coric in straight sets, losing just two points on his first serve in the entire match. Ivo Karlovic also booked a last eight spot with a 6-7(5) 6-3, 6-3 victory over German Alexander Zverev.
Hewitt, Mahut get Wimbledon wild cards
Lleyton Hewitt will be making his final main draw appearance at Wimbledon after the 2002 champion was granted a wild card for the singles tournament by the All England Club Wednesday. The 34-year-old Australian is planning on retiring at the Australian Open next January. Other men who were given wild card singles entries include Nicolas Mahut of France and three British players. Mahut won his third career title last week at the Topshelf Open on grass. Two British players — Naomi Broady and Johanna Konta — were granted invitations for the women's singles, as were Estonia's Anett Kontaveit and Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko. — Agencies
