Queen's Club R2 previews and picks: Raonic vs. Gasquet, Wawrinka vs. Anderson

Milos Raonic and Stan Wawrinka will continue their Queen’s Club campaigns during second-round action on Wednesday at Queen’s Club. They are set for respective meetings with Richard Gasquet and Kevin Anderson.

Richard Gasquet vs. (3) Milos Raonic

Raonic and Gasquet will be facing each other for the fourth time in their careers when they do battle in the second round of the AEGON Championships on Wednesday. All three of their previous encounters have come on hard courts and the head-to-head series stands at 2-1 in Raonic’s favor. The eighth-ranked Canadian prevailed 7-6(4), 6-3 at the 2012 Cincinnati Masters and 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 a season later in Bangkok. Their most epic showdown came at the 2013 U.S. Open, with Gasquet surviving 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 2-6, 7-6(9), 7-5.

Playing in his first tournament since a minor foot procedure sidelined him from the French Open, Raonic opened with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 victory over James Ward on Monday. The No. 2 seed is now 22-9 on the year, but he has been to just one final and that came in the first week in Brisbane. Gasquet began this week by defeating Simone Bolelli 6-1, 6-2 on Monday. The 19th-ranked Frenchman is 21-7 for his 2015 campaign and he still has not lost in the first round of any tournament. Both men are dangerous on grass, but Raonic should have the edge with a match under his belt and his confidence presumably growing.

Pick: Raonic in 2

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Kevin Anderson vs. (2) Stan Wawrinka

Anderson is no stranger to going up against Wawrinka shortly following a Grand Slam triumph for the Swiss. After Wawrinka lifted the winner’s trophy at the Australian Open in 2014, Anderson handed the current world No. 4 his first loss of that season at the Indian Wells Masters. The 17th-ranked South African went on to beat Wawrinka on two other occasions last year–7-6(8), 7-5 at the Rogers Cup and 6-7(2), 7-5, 7-6(3) at the Paris Masters. With Wawrinka having taken their three previous meetings, the head-to-head series stands at 3-3.

Unaccustomed to being unseeded, Anderson was hit with a tough draw at Queen’s Club. But he has survived one test, as he fought past Lleyton Hewitt 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-2 on Monday. Wawrinka made more routine work of Nick Kyrgios in the form of a 6-3, 6-4 win. The second seed is obviously more accomplished on clay than he is on grass, but his confidence is at the point where it hardly matters what is under his feet. Although Anderson will be competitive, as always, stopping Wawrinka may require more than what the underdog has to offer.

Pick: Wawrinka in 2

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