FOUR-TIME champion Lleyton Hewitt eased past Spaniard Daniel Gimeno- Traver in straight sets to book his place in the second round at the Queen’s Club Aegon Championships.

The 33-year-old Australian can set a new all-time record with a fifth Queen’s title, and eased through with a 6-3, 6-3 victory.

British hope Daniel Cox slipped to a straight-sets defeat to Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in the first round at the Queen’s Club Aegon Championships.

The 23-year-old from Lincoln could not follow the lead of fellow Brits and wildcard entrants James Ward and Dan Evans into the second round of the Wimbledon warm-up event.

Mannarino, ranked 83 in the world, showed the gulf in class with Cox down at 214 in the ATP standings.

Ward accepts he must force a second-round upset against Grigor Dimitrov as he attempts to repeat his 2011 run to the Queen’s Club Aegon Championships semi-finals.

The British number three saw off Blaz Rola for the second time in three weeks yesterday, to move on to face number-four seed Dimitrov in the Kensington Wimbledon warmup tournament.

Ward became the first British man in more than 40 years to reach the French Open’s first round proper through qualifying when slugging past Slovenian Rola in a gruelling 12-10 final set on May 23.

And he saw him off again in straight sets 7-5, 6-4 on Monday, to tee up a showdown with world number 13 Dimitrov, admitting he must produce his best tennis to progress further.

“It would be an upset if you look at the rankings no doubt,” said Ward.

“Probably this would be the best surface for me to face him on. We practised last week though and we know each other pretty well anyway, so I think it will be a good match.

“That was a one-off result to get to the semifinals when I did, as to how I played in that week and you can’t do that every week. But I think I’m playing a lot better, I’ve been far more consistent, I went well at the French and with these opportunities for the next few weeks hopefully I can keep moving forward.’’