Queen's

Hewitt fails to match Federer as he exits Queen's

Nick Atkin at Queen's Club

June 11, 2014

Lleyton Hewitt went down to Feliciano Lopez in straight sets © Getty Images

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Lleyton Hewitt missed the chance to match Roger Federer's record number of wins on grass as he suffered a second-round exit to Feliciano Lopez at Queen's.

Lopez, the 10th seed, went through 6-3 6-4 in 67 minutes on Centre Court, with Hewitt (121) still trailing Federer's tally of wins (122) on the surface among active players. Federer opens his singles campaign at Halle on Thursday.

Hewitt had been bidding to become the first man to win Queen's five times. He shares the record of four wins with Andy Roddick.

"He served really well the whole match," said Hewitt. "It was just frustrating.

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"I feel like for the most part my rhythm is pretty good. I didn't feel like I did a lot wrong out there with the returns today. He just served too well."

Hewitt was uncertain over whether he would come back for a record 16th year at Queen's, however, but is looking forward to stepping up his preparations for Wimbledon.

"It's one of my favourite tournaments," he added. "I love coming back here, it's always nice. I had a really good run last year [to reach the semi-finals], as well. You always have good memories to come back to places where you played well.

"I still feel comfortable on this surface. I'll play some practice sets over the next week and a half and just get more and more comfortable with the grass. Then over five sets, anything can happen."

Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka progressed to the third round after Marcos Baghdatis, who has been granted a Wimbledon wild card, retired with a suspected shoulder problem in the first set of their match when he was trailing 3-2.

Asked if he was disappointed he only got five games in, Wawrinka said: "I'm sorry for him [Baghdatis] first. He's a good friend, a great friend. He's been playing well since he started the grass, winning the first tournament [in Nottingham].

"It's never easy. For sure you want to play matches. But sometimes it happens. You take it and you go for the next one.

"I'm feeling really good. I'm really happy with my level of the game, the way I am practicing, to play a few games on Centre. It was enough to see it [the ball] as it was a little bit faster because the grass is still new.

"I have more than two weeks to get ready for Wimbledon. I know that if my level is there, I can do some great results in Wimbledon, but we'll see. So far I'm taking it day after day and trying to enjoy here the week."

There was also a shock defeat for Ernests Gulbis, with the French Open semi-finalist going down 7-6(3) 7-5 to Kenny de Schepper.