Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
AUSTRALIAN OPEN

WAWRINKA

Czechmate: Wawrinka downs Stepanek in straight sets

Former winner Stan Wawrinka maintained his dominance over Czech opponents with a straight sets win against Radek Stepanek to advance to the third round at the Australian Open on Thursday.

Published: 21 January 2016 13:01 CET
Czechmate: Wawrinka downs Stepanek in straight sets
Stan Wawrinka at the Chennai open earlier in January. Photo: AFP

The Swiss fourth seed wore down the veteran Stepanek 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 in just over two hours on Hisense Arena and will face another Czech Lukas Rosol in the round of 32.

Wawrinka's win over the 37-year-old, who had to qualify for this year's main draw, stretched his winning streak over Czech players to 11 and he has the chance to make that 12 against Rosol on Saturday.

He has not lost to a Czech player since he was defeated by Tomas Berdych in the Davis Cup first round in 2013.

“I'm confident with my game. I know it depends a lot of me when I go into the match against many players. Trying to be as focused as I can,” Wawrinka said.

Wawrinka beat Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal on the way to winning the 2014 Australian Open.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

TENNIS

US Open: In form Wawrinka makes quarters after Djokovic retires hurt

Top-ranked defending champion Novak Djokovic retired with a shoulder injury after dropping the first two sets of Sunday's US Open last-16 match against Stan Wawrinka.

Published: 2 September 2019 07:24 CEST
US Open: In form Wawrinka makes quarters after Djokovic retires hurt
Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka has spent two years on the road back from knee surgery. Photo: Don Emmert/AFP

Swiss 23rd seed and 2016 champion Wawrinka led Djokovic 6-4, 7-5, 2-1 when the Serb quit, having received treatment on his troublesome left shoulder before the start of the third set.

“It's never the way you want to finish a match. I'm sorry for Novak. He's an amazing champion,” Wawrinka said.

Djokovic, who has won four of the past five Grand Slam events and 16 overall, had struggled with a painful left shoulder during his second-round win over Juan Ignacio Londero.

He said he felt “almost pain-free” following a straight-sets defeat of Denis Kudla in round three, but the problem resurfaced against Wawrinka in the first meeting between the pair since the final here three years ago.

“I want to keep my level of tonight. I think I was playing super good tennis. I'm happy to be back,” said Wawrinka, who will meet fifth seed Daniil Medvedev in the quarter-finals.

“It helped me big time knowing I have the game to beat him on that court.

“I was feeling great. When I came to practice here I was moving well, playing well. I was quite confident with the level I had but you never know when you are playing the number one player in the world.”

SHOW COMMENTS