In his first match since claiming the US Open title earlier this month, Stan Wawrinka showed no signs of a hangover from his epic victory as he had no trouble in defeating the tricky Czech Lukas Rosol in his opening match at the St. Petersburg Open. The Swiss dominated the match, only need 58 minutes to reach the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-1 victory.
Strong serve delivers opener for Wawrinka
The top seed in St. Petersburg was on fire from the very first point, holding to love to start the match. He would hold to love in his first three service games, only dropping two points on serve in the entire opening set. It didn’t take long for Wawrinka to start putting pressure on his opponents serve, as he forced Rosol to deuce in the third game. Two games later, the Swiss converted his second break point to take the lead.
With Wawrinka serving at such a high level, Rosol was hard pressed to get back into the set. Serving to stay alive at 3-5, he would blink again. Wawrinka battled to a 30-40 lead, a set point, but the Czech saved it. The top seed quickly brought up a second and this time he converted to wrap up with opening set 6-3 in 29 minutes.
Wawrinka races into quarters
The first game of the second set would prove to be Rosol’s first and only chance to get back into the match, as he raced ahead 0-40 on the Swiss’ serve. However, he was unable to convert any of his three break points and Wawrinka held. The top seed made the Czech pay immediately for the missed opportunity, racing ahead 15-40 in the following game and converting his third break point of the game at 40-AD to take control of the second set.
Wawrinka’s momentum continued to mount as he broke Rosol again in the Czech’s next service game, despite Rosol saving the first point and holding two game points of his own. The Swiss stretched the lead to 5-0 before his opponent finally got on the board. But one game was nowhere near enough, as Rosol struggled to get into return games after the first and Wawrinka would hold to seal the victory in just under an hour.
By the numbers
Wawrinka was light’s out on his first serve, only losing one point in the entire match when he first delivery was in. He also saved all three break points he faced. Rosol, who usually uses his serve to great effect, struggled, only managing to win two more points than he lost on serve, including only 54 percent of his normally powerful first serves. The Czech only saved five of nine break points.
Wawrinka now awaits the winner between seventh seed Viktor Troicki and Dusan Lajovic in the quarterfinals.