Queen’s: Wawrinka and Raonic tipped to win Anderson and Gasquet games

The AEGON Championships at Queen’s Club enters the second round with Wimbledon last than two weeks away.

Four fabulous fixtures in the last 16 are scheduled to take place on Wednesday, with French Open men’s singles champion Stan Wawrinka (7/2 second-favourite to add to that trophy with Coral here) the headline act.

There have already been some shocks at this ATP Tour event with Spanish sensation Rafael Nadal falling at the first hurdle. A potential quarter-final between ‘the King of Clay’ and Swiss number two Wawrinka was supposed to be something British tennis fans had to look forward to.

Second seed Wawrinka and Milos Raonic will now be looking over their shoulders, keen to avoid similar upsets in the bottom half of the draw, which Coral experts preview here.

Gilles Simon v Thanasi Kokkinakis
Up-and-coming Aussie teenage talent Kokkinakis must be taken seriously by Simon after he knocked out fellow Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in the first round. Both of these players came through in three sets to book this clash.

Simon is a slender 8/15 favourite, but Kokkinakis is a great shout at 6/4 to cause another shock. Superb odds of 7/2 say he will send another French player home in three sets.

Kevin Anderson v Stan Wawrinka
Having tasted clay court Grand Slam glory at Roland Garros earlier this month, Wawrinka has already shown that the transition to grass has been made seamlessly. He dropped just seven games during a straight sets victory over Nick Kyrgios of Australia, and is evens to replicate that performance here.

South Africa’s Anderson struggle to be veteran Lleyton Hewitt, so frankly a 2/1 price on there being a shock doesn’t look long enough. Even-money for a 2-0 Wawrinka win is much better than his odds-on match price of 4/11.

Richard Gasquet v Milos Raonic

Third seed Raonic (odds-on at 4/6 to advance), who represents Canada, will be wary of France’s Gasquet (11/10) as he only holds a slender 2-1 head-to-head advantage from previous meetings.

Their last two encounters have gone the distance as did Raonic’s win over James Ward in round one, so if punters are going to back the favourite, then an 11/4 price on doing so in three sets is much more attractive value.

Alexandr Dolgopolov v Guillermo Garcia-Lopez
Ukrainian player Dolgopolov will be chuffed after scalping Nadal, and will be targeting another shock on a Spaniard here. Coral make the Eastern European odds-on 8/11 favourite to follow up his giant-killing here.

Garcia-Lopez, a veteran at 3/2, is 11/8 to defeat Dolgopolov, but grass is certainly his weakest surface.

Coral betting tip: Young Kokkinakis is a sumptuous 7/2 to thwart another Frenchman in three sets at Queen’s.