Stan Wawrinka will try to win a career-best fifth ATP World Tour title of the season on Sunday when he faces #NextGen player Alexander Zverev in the St. Petersburg Open final. The top seed advanced to his fifth final of the year and 25th of his career by beating Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6(8), 6-2 in one hour and 51 minutes on Saturday. The Swiss saved two set points in the first set before claiming the 18-point tie-break. He broke to start the second set and again at 4-2 to take his 10th victory in a row. Wawrinka also improved to a perfect 6-0 in sets in St. Petersburg. [ALSO LIKE] Both players fought for every big point in the semi-final. Wawrinka saved...
Top seed Stan Wawrinka remained perfect against Viktor Troicki, winning 7-5, 6-2 against the Serbian in the quarter-finals of the St. Petersburg Open on Friday. Wawrinka broke on the final point of the opening set, then swept the last four games of the match to win in 64 minutes. The No. 3 player in the Emirates ATP Race To London, who is already assured of a berth at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, played with confidence. He landed 79 per cent of first serves and saved both break points faced to improve to 6-0 in his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Troicki. Wawrinka will play Roberto Bautista Agut for a place in the final. The Swiss has won his...
Top seed Stan Wawrinka eased into the quarter-finals of the St. Petersburg Open on Wednesday, downing Lukas Rosol 6-3, 6-1 in the second round. The Swiss, who is coming off a title run at the US Open (d. Djokovic), lost only one first-serve point and did not drop a service game. Wawrinka hit eight aces in the 58-minute win. He last played in St. Petersburg in 2004, falling to Jean-Rene Lisnard in the final of the ATP Challenger Tour event. "I'm happy with my preparation for this tournament. I played at a good level for a first match, especially against Rosol, a player against whom I've played close matches this year," Wawrinka, who had a first-round bye, said. "I was...
The last time Stan Wawrinka played in St. Petersburg, he lost in a final. It was August 2004, and Wawrinka, then 19 years old and No. 159 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, fell to Jean-Rene Lisnard 3-6, 7-5, 7-5. Since then, much has changed for Wawrinka. Namely, the Swiss No. 1 hardly loses in finals anymore. Wawrinka is 11-0 in his past 11 finals, including his US Open victory against Novak Djokovic earlier this month. As the top seed at the St. Petersburg Open this week, the 31-year-old Wawrinka will try to make it 12 final victories in a row. “I have to make it to the final first,” he said during his pre-tournament press conference. “I hope to win...