Stan Wawrinka fought back to stun sixth seed Grigor Dimitrov and claim his biggest victory since having knee surgery in the Wimbledon first round.

The Swiss, a three-time Grand Slam champion, has dropped to 224th in the world and lost to Andy Murray in the first round at Eastbourne last week.

But he rallied to beat Dimitrov 1-6 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 on Centre Court.

Elsewhere, third seed Marin Cilic, last year’s beaten finalist, defeated Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 6-1 6-4 6-4.

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Wawrinka’s revival

Despite his successful career, Wawrinka has never made it further than the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.

He fell in the opening round last year to Russia’s Daniil Medvedev when he was hindered by his knee, and later opted to have surgery and end his season early.

He returned to the tour for the Australian Open in January, but ultimately had further surgery in February which kept him out until May.

Wawrinka began slowly against Bulgaria’s Dimitrov, who won the season-ending ATP Tour finals in November, but has struggled for form since.

Dimitrov let slip a 5-2 lead in the third set and Wawrinka muscled past him to record a first win over a top-10 player on grass.

It was a memorable day for the 33-year-old, as his partner Donna Vekic beat women’s fourth seed Sloane Stephens earlier.

“My goal was to fight and to focus on my game,” Wawrinka told BBC Sport.

“Grigor is a tough player and I knew I was nervous but I have been practising hard.

“I will do everything to be ready for the next match. When you win, it helps your body to recover.”

‘Devastating loss’ – analysis

John McEnroe, former Wimbledon champion on BBC Two

We saw guys lacking confidence for different reasons. Wawrinka is coming back from injury, but Dimitrov is inexplicable.

Dimitrov couldn’t handle the expectation, the pressure he put on himself.

When push comes to shove, he’s coming up empty. It’s a devastating loss considering he had opportunities to win it.

Querrey’s wedding dilemma

Also through is American Sam Querrey who beat Andy Murray on his way to the 2017 semi-finals.

Querrey, the 11th seed this year, had few problems as he saw off Australia’s Jordan Thompson 6-2 6-4 6-3.

The 30-year-old, who got married to Abby Dixon last month, said afterwards that he postponed his honeymoon plans to step up his grass-court preparations for Wimbledon.

“We went home for three days and flew over for Queen’s, if you count that as a honeymoon,” he said.

“I don’t think Abby does. Maybe at the end of the year, we will do a honeymoon somewhere close to where we live.”

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