Wimbledon 2016: Stan Wawrinka & Juan Martin del Potro progress
Former French Open champion Stan Wawrinka defeated American teenager Taylor Fritz at Wimbledon on Tuesday to set up a second-round meeting with Juan Martin del Potro.
Swiss fourth seed Wawrinka beat the 18-year-old 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 6-7 (2-7) 6-4.
Argentina’s Del Potro, winner of the 2009 US Open, saw off France’s Stephane Robert 6-1 7-5 6-0.
Del Potro is playing in his first Grand Slam since the 2014 Australian Open after a series of wrist surgeries.
Meanwhile, British number one Andy Murray, who beat Liam Broady 6-2 6-3 6-4, will next play Yen Hsun Lu after the Taiwanese player defeated Alexander Kudryavtsev of Russia 6-4 6-1 6-4.
Kyrgios loves a hot dog
Australian Nick Kyrgios overcame veteran Radek Stepanek to reach the second round.
The 21-year-old Kyrgios, a quarter-finalist here in 2014, beat the 37-year-old Czech 6-4 6-3 6-7 (9-11) 6-1.
Stepanek was aiming to become the oldest man to win a Grand Slam singles match in almost 25 years.
He initially struggled against a player 16 years his junior, and Kyrgios’ confidence came through when he played an outrageous between-the-legs winner early in the third set.
Kyrgios served for the match at 5-4 but Stepanek hit back, taking a marathon tie break 11-9.
It proved to be just a blip for Kyrgios, though, as he powered through the fourth set to win in two hours and 26 minutes.
“I do believe I can do good things in this tournament, potentially win it,” said Kyrgios.
The 15th seed will next face the unseeded Dustin Brown on Thursday after the German beat Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic 4-6 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-4.
Dustin does it again
Brown made Wimbledon headlines last year when he beat Rafael Nadal in the second round.
The 31-year-old, who used to travel to tournaments in a camper van to save money, is ranked 85th in the world and found himself two sets to one down to Lajovic on Tuesday and facing the prospect of an immediate exit.
However, he staged an impressive fightback to progress.
Brown is now looking forward to facing his friend Kyrgios, saying: “We played IPTL (International Premier Tennis League) together, he’s a really nice guy.
“We are friends. We’ll go out and have fun and play good tennis.”
Serb Viktor Troicki, who beat Brown in the third round last year, is also through after beating Tristan Lamasine of France 6-4 6-2 6-2.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also progressed after the 12th seed beat Inigo Cervantes of Spain 6-4 7-6 (7-5) 6-4.
Frenchman Tsonga was making his return from a thigh injury that forced him to retire during his third-round match against Ernests Gulbis at last month’s French Open.