The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsThe reigning French Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka exited the Aegon Championships at the hands of Kevin Anderson, as the South African edged the Swiss player 7-6 7-6 to reach the quarterfinals.
The contest was very much a high quality duel from both men but it was Anderson who won the crucial points in the two tie-breaks to eventually send the former Australian Open champion out of the tournament.
Both players displayed impressive tennis in the opening set to keep the score line tight but Wawrinka failed to convert two set points at 6-5, due to Anderson producing superb net play. This lifted the South African as he played an inspirational tiebreak to clinch the first set, deploying an aggressive strategy to pressurise and frustrate Wawrinka.
The sensational tennis continued throughout the second set and as a result, another tie-break was needed. The South African built a commanding 6-3 lead to hold match points in the tie-break but the Swiss player responded to save them all and even had a set point to snatch it, but a wild forehand miss kept the South African in contention. Wawrinka’s forehand misfired again to hand his opponent another opportunity to close it out, and this time Anderson obliged with a booming ace to end what had been an enthralling contest.
Anderson will now face Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the quarterfinals, as the Spaniard ousted Rafael Nadal’s conqueror Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3 7-6. The Ukrainian found it difficult to replicate the form that he showed in taking down Nadal, and despite breaking Garcia Lopez when the Spaniard served for the match at 5-4, Dolgopolov succumbed in the eventual tie-break.
In the other matches, Milos Raonic emphatically rebounded from losing the second set to defeat Richard Gasquet 6-4 6-7 6-1 and set up a quarterfinal clash with Gilles Simon, as he earlier saw off the young Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-4 6-2.
