Ten days after blowing Novak Djokovic off the clay in sunny Paris, Stan Wawrinka was a loser on the grass at muggy Queen’s, Kevin Anderson securing a path through to the third round of the Aegon Championships with a booming serve down the middle.
The world No4 from Switzerland got an outside edge on that one but there were 22 others that whistled past him unanswered like Dale Steyn bouncers as the 6ft 8in South African used up six match points to win 7-6, 7-6 after an hour and 50 minutes that seemed a lot longer.
It was Anderson’s fourth successive win over Wawrinka in seven matches, and the second time the Swiss has lost to him immediately after winning a major, following on from Indian Wells last year while he was still luxuriating in the glow of his breakthrough in Melbourne six weeks earlier.