Wawrinka, Murray move on in London
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}London, England (SportsNetwork.com) - Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka and three-time Queen's Club titlist Andy Murray were among Wednesday's second-round winners at the $965,000 Aegon Championships, a grass-court Wimbledon tune-up.
The top-seeded Wawrinka was leading former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis 3-2 in the first set when he Cypriot wild card retired, while the third-seeded Murray, under the guidance of new coach Amelie Mauresmo, handled Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-4 at the historic Queen's Club.
Murray was impressed with Mauresmo when they met.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"At first when I thought about it, it was obviously a consideration, because for a few years I haven't worked with a woman," he said.
"Now the decision has been made, it's not something that I'm thinking about. It's more about the qualities that she can bring that will help me and my tennis and my team as well. I hope it works out long term because I like her. She's a good person. I hope it works out well.
"After I spoke to her the first time I just really liked her. She was calm. She asked a lot of questions. She listened. She listened a lot. I liked chatting to her, so then I decided to sit down and speak to her and had a good chat with her about tennis.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"This week, there's not going to be any big changes in my game. I also wouldn't expect any before Wimbledon. But we'll definitely work on some things after the tournament is finished here."
Murray beat 2012 champion Marin Cilic in last year's final, just a few weeks before prevailing at Wimbledon to give Britain its first male singles champion at the All England Club in 77 years.
Meanwhile, fifth-seeded French star Jo-Wilfried Tsonga bested Belgian David Goffin 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, France's Kenny De Schepper stunned sixth-seeded French Open semifinalist Ernests Gulbis, of Latvia, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5, and eighth-seeded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov got past Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (9-7).
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In other action involving seeds, No. 10 Feliciano Lopez topped former world No. 1 and four-time Queen's Club titlist Lleyton Hewitt 6-3, 6-4; Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky doused No. 11 Canadian Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 6-4; Finnish veteran Jarkko Nieminen upended No. 12 Russian Dmitry Tursunov 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-3); France's Edouard Roger-Vasselin erased 13th-seeded fellow countryman and 2007 runner-up Nicolas Mahut 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5); and No. 15 Czech Radek Stepanek dismissed Aussie Bernard Tomic 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5). Hewitt and Murray have combined for seven of the last 14 titles here.
Other second-round results saw Frenchman Adrian Mannarino drill the Dominican Republic's Victor Estrella Burgos 6-1, 6-2 and Aussie Marinko Matosevic defeat Slovak Lukas Lacko 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.
The top-five seeds will all see action on Thursday, as Wawrinka will take on American and 2010 champion Sam Querrey; No. 2 Tomas Berdych will encounter Mannarino; Murray will meet Stepanek; No. 4 Grigor Dimitrov will take on Roger-Vasselin; and the 2011 runner-up Tsonga will be opposed by Matosevic.