LONDON, July 1: Juan Martin Del Potro proved that multiple wrist surgeries had not robbed him off his flowing racket skills as he knocked out fourth seed Stan Wawrinka with a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(2), 6-3 in the second round of Wimbledon on Friday.
The Argentine, making his first appearance at Wimbledon since reaching the semifinals in 2013, held aloft his arms in triumph after condemning twice grand slam champion Wawrinka to his earliest defeat at the All England Club for three years.
Wawrinka broke once to take the first set but by the time the players swapped serves for four successive games at the start of the third set, the Swiss knew he was in for a torrid afternoon against the 2009 US Open champion.
Playing under a closed Centre Court roof, Wawrinka whipped a backhand wide on match point to complete another miserable outing at the only major in which he has yet to reach at least a semifinal.
Late on Thursday, Japanese fifth seed Kei Nishikori struggled into the Wimbledon third round while Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic and Spanish veteran David Ferrer exited as the All England Club played catch-up after a rain-lashed two days.
Nishikori saw off France�s world number 547 Julien Benneteau 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 on Centre Court and goes on to meet Russia�s Andrey Kuznetsov.
�I started playing more aggressive and more solid,� said the 26-year-old Nishikori who has never got beyond the Wimbledon fourth round.
�It wasn�t an easy match. He started well so it was a great match for me.�
Nineteen-year-old Bencic became the highest-ranked casualty yesterday at Wimbledon when the seventh seed retired from her second round match against American qualifier Julia Boserup.
Bencic was 6-4, 1-0 down on Court Three to the world number 225 who is making her Grand Slam debut.
Bencic, who missed the clay court season with a back injury, had only completed her first round match late Wednesday and struggled on Thursday with what appeared to be a wrist problem.
Boserup, 24, goes on to face Andrea Petkovic of Germany or Russia�s Elena Vesnina for a place in the last 16.
Spain�s David Ferrer, the 13th seed, lost to fellow 34-year-old � and grass court specialist � Nicolas Mahut 6-1, 6-4, 6-3.
Canadian sixth seed Milos Raonic, regarded as a dark horse for the title, brushed past Andreas Seppi 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 6-2.
Raonic, a semifinalist in 2014, next faces Jack Sock of the United States. � Agencies
