Cilic suffers shock Wimbledon exit

London - Marin Cilic suffered a shock Wimbledon second round exit as last year's runner-up blew a two-set lead in his 3-6, 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5 loss to Argentina's Guido Pella on Thursday.

When rain forced the tie to be postponed on Wednesday evening, third seed Cilic was leading by two sets against an unheralded opponent who had never won a match at Wimbledon before this year.

But the Croatian, who lost to Roger Federer in the 2017 final, collapsed once the match resumed on Court One and world number 82 Pella took full advantage to set up a third round clash with Mackenzie McDonald.

Cilic, the 2014 US Open champion, had been expected to mount a strong challenge for the Wimbledon title after winning the grass-court warm-up at Queen's Club two weeks ago.

The big-serving 29-year-old had only once before lost to a player ranked as low as Pella at Wimbledon, when he was beaten by world number 145 Arnaud Clement 10 years ago.

But after reaching the Australian Open final and French Open quarter-finals earlier this year, Cilic suffered one of the worst results of his career.

Pella is into the third round at a Grand Slam for the first time.

The 28-year-old admitted the over-night rain delay had been a huge boost as it allowed him to change his tactics and pull off a sensational fightback.

"Yesterday he was playing so good, hitting the ball so hard that I couldn't do anything," Pella said.

"So the rain helped me a lot. Today I played differently, tried to be more aggressive, he started to feel uncomfortable.

"I tried to hit the ball hard and fight for every ball and I think in the end that's why I won.

"I felt much more confident, served better and was so calm until the end. I'm very happy."

Wimbledon results on Thursday, the fourth day of the 2018 championships (x denotes seeded player):

Men

Second round

Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER x25) bt Gilles Muller (LUX) 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/3)

Kevin Anderson (RSA x8) bt Andreas Seppi (ITA) 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-4

Guido Pella (ARG) bt Marin Cilic (CRO x3) 3-6, 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5

John Isner (USA x9) bt Ruben Bemelmans (BEL) 6-1, 6-4, 6-7 (6/8), 6-7 (3/7), 7-5

Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE x31) bt Jared Donaldson (USA) 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3

Thomas Fabbiano (ITA) bt Stan Wawrinka (SUI) 7-6 (9/7), 6-3, 7-6 (8/6)

Karen Khachanov (RUS) bt Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (4/7), 7-5

Frances Tiafoe (USA) bt Julien Benneteau (FRA) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2

Kyle Edmund (GBR x21) bt Bradley Klahn (USA) 6-4, 7-6 (7/0), 6-2

Novak Djokovic (SRB x12) bt Horacio Zeballos (ARG) 6-1, 6-2, 6-3

Nick Kyrgios (AUS x15) bt Robin Haase (NED) 6-3, 6-4, 7-5

Kei Nishikori (JPN x24) bt Bernard Tomic (AUS) 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (9/7), 7-5

Ernests Gulbis (LAT) bt Damir Džumhur (BIH x27) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3

Juan Martín Del Potro (ARG x5) bt Feliciano Lopez (ESP) 6-4, 6-1, 6-2

Benoît Paire (FRA) bt Denis Shapovalov (CAN x26) 0-6, 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3)

Gilles Simon (FRA) bt Matteo Berrettini (ITA) 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2

Matthew Ebden (AUS) bt Stéphane Robert (FRA) 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-1

Jirí Veselý (CZE) bt Diego Schwartzman (ARG x14) 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3)

Fabio Fognini (ITA x19) bt Simone Bolelli (ITA) 6-3, 6-4, 6-1

Alex De Minaur (AUS) bt Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA) 6-2, 6-7 (8/10), 7-5, 6-3

Rafael Nadal (ESP x2) bt Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) 6-4, 6-3, 6-4

Suspended for darkness:

Taylor Fritz (USA) leads Alexander Zverev (GER x4) 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/0)

Women

Second round

Simona Halep (ROM x1) bt Zheng Saisai (CHN) 7-5, 6-0

Hsieh Su-Wei (TPE) bt Lara Arruabarrena (ESP) 6-3, 6-3

Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) bt Johanna Konta (GBR x22) 6-3, 6-4

Elise Mertens (BEL x15) bt Sachia Vickery (USA) 6-1, 6-3

Jelena Ostapenko (LAT x12) bt Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) 6-1, 6-3

Vitalia Diatchenko (RUS) bt Sofia Kenin (USA) 6-4, 6-1

Daria Gavrilova (AUS x26) bt Samantha Stosur (AUS) 6-4, 6-1

Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR) bt Taylor Townsend (USA) 6-0, 6-4

Alison Van Uytvanck (BEL) bt Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP x3) 5-7, 6-2, 6-1

Anett Kontaveit (EST x28) bt Jennifer Brady (USA) 6-2, 7-6 (7/4)

Ashleigh Barty (AUS x17) bt Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) 6-4, 7-5

Daria Kasatkina (RUS x14) bt Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) 6-2, 6-3

Angelique Kerber (GER x11) bt Claire Liu (USA) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4

Naomi Osaka (JPN x18) bt Katie Boulter (GBR) 6-3, 6-4

Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP x27) bt Sara Sorribes (ESP) 6-4, 6-1

Belinda Bencic (SUI) bt Alison Riske (USA) 1-6, 7-6 (12/10), 6-2

Barbora Strycova (CZE x23) bt Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) 6-1, 6-4

Katerina Siniakova (CZE) bt Ons Jabeur (TUN) 5-7, 6-4, 9-7