Despite a brief period of weakness in the second set, Stan Wawrinka reaches the 2nd round at Wimbledon without any major problems. The Frenchman wins 6:3, 7:5, 6:4 against the British wildcard recipient.
This is the eleventh time Wawrinka (ATP 95) has reached the second round of the only Grand Slam tournament he has never won in his career. His opponent on Wednesday will be a Frenchman; the number 22 seeded left-hander Adrian Mannarino or Gaël Monfils (ATP 33).
After having everything under control in the first set, Wawrinka fell behind out of the blue in the second round. He dropped serve for the first time at the start and at 2:5, he fended off three set points on his own service and a fourth in the following game. The 26-year-old Englishman, ranked just 248th in the world, was also a victim of his nerves in his first match at Grand Slam level.
Wawrinka then quickly pulled away again in the third set with two early breaks and converted his first match point with a backhand winner after just 1:50 hours. Having only lost to Novak Djokvoic in the third round last year, he now needs the points to remain the only Swiss player in the top 100 of the world rankings.
