Argentina’s Guido Pella celebrates after winning a point against South Africa’s Kevin Anderson in a Men’s singles match during day five of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Friday, July 5, 2019. 
Argentina’s Guido Pella celebrates after winning a point against South Africa’s Kevin Anderson in a Men’s singles match during day five of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Friday, July 5, 2019. Ben Curtis | Associated Press

Wimbledon: Another one bites the dust as last year’s finalist, Kevin Anderson, loses to Guido Pella

Last year's runner-up Kevin Anderson was knocked out in the third round at Wimbledon, losing in straight sets to Guido Pella on Centre Court.

Anderson could only convert one of his nine break points and lost 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (4) to Pella, who reached the fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

It's the second year in a row that Pella knocked out the previous runner-up. He came from two sets down to beat Marin Cilic in 2018.

Anderson lost in straight sets to Novak Djokovic in last year's final, after coming from two sets down to beat Roger Federer in the quarterfinals and beating John Isner in a 6½-hour semifinal match.

In the third set, the South African had a break point at 2-1, two more at 3-2 and another one at 4-3, but couldn't convert any of them. In the tiebreaker, Pella set up match point after a crowd-pleasing rally at the net, and converted it with another volley.

No. 10 Karen Khachanov also lost, falling to Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-1. Both results could benefit Djokovic, the defending champion who now doesn't have a single top-10 seeded player left in his side of the draw.

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