(Tennis news) At the Western & Southern Open on Wednesday night, Stan Wawrinka defeated home favourite Frances Tiafoe in his first match since a comeback final run in Umag. With a 6-3, 6-4 victory against the 10th-seeded American, the Swiss wild card pulled off the stunning shock in one hour and 18 minutes.
“It’s been probably the best match of the season, I think the most complete match,” Wawrinka said after improving to 6-1 in his past seven outings. “I was feeling good, moving well, serving well, being aggressive, staying with him, fighting. I’m super happy and hopefully I can keep playing that well.”
Wawrinka has now defeated two Top 10 opponents this season, his first coming in Indian Wells against Holger Rune. Wawrinka is the third-oldest player in ATP Masters 1000 history (since 1990) to make it to the Round of 16, trailing only two runs by Ivo Karlovic. Wawrinka is the oldest participant in the Cincinnati men’s singles draw at age 38.
The victory also saw the Swiss climb four spots to No. 47 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. In the event that he defeats Max Purcell on Thursday, he will move up into the Top 40.
Wawrinka put on a classic performance against Tiafoe that was highlighted by his superb one-handed backhand, improving his Lexus ATP Head2Head record to 4-0. For the majority of the game, the Swiss controlled play from that baseline wing, and even when Tiafoe won the battle of the wits, the picture-perfect groundstroke stood as a crucial equaliser.
On Thursday, Wawrinka will play against wild card Purcell. Earlier on Wednesday, the Australian defeated fifth seed Casper Ruud 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
“I watched him play. He’s a really good player,” Wawrinka said of the World No. 70, who qualified and beat Felix Auger-Aliassime last week in Toronto. “He’s coming in this year, he’s winning a lot of matches. He played well last week. He’s beating top players, he beat Ruud today. It’s going to be a super interesting match.
“We never played each other, we never practised against each other. He’s a dangerous player so again I will have to play my best tennis to win.”
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