A career-best four tour-level titles, including a third Grand Slam singles crown, is a dream season in most players’ books. But Stan Wawrinka is one for keeping his targets simple.
After he easily accounted for British qualifier Kyle Edmund 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Wednesday, the Swiss No. 3 seed said he set himself just one goal heading into 2016.
“At the beginning of the season for me, it was to qualify for London,” Wawrinka said. “My goal is to do the right thing, to practise well, to be strong and tough with myself mentally, to fight in every match. That’s the only way I can give myself the chance to win big titles.”
The 31 year old already locked in his spot at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals following his US Open victory so anything from here on was a bonus. Twice a quarter-finalist in Shanghai (l. Nadal 2013 and 2015), Wawrinka is bidding for his second career Masters 1000 title (Monte-Carlo 2014) this week.
#NextGen player Edmund, who came in at a career-high No. 48 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, was coming off his third quarter-final of the season at last week’s China Open in Beijing (l. Murray). He went on to win through two rounds of qualifying in Shanghai before downing Federico Delbonis in the first round.
Wawrinka, though, brought the Brit’s campaign to a swift end on the back of 80 per cent of first-serve points won and having broken three times in little more than an hour. He quickly allayed any doubts about a back injury, which forced his withdrawal from last week’s Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2016. Frenchman Gilles Simon is next after he beat China's Di Wu 6-2, 6-2.
“I feel good. I arrived here quite early. I had two days again struggling with my back but two days since I feel really good,” he said. “On the court I think I was playing good today. Moving well, also, that's the most important thing when I have some back problem, and I feel more or less 100 per cent.”
Czech Tomas Berdych suffered a blow in his Emirates Race to London bid after the seventh seed was upset 7-6(4), 7-6(1) by Marcel Granollers. Neither player was broken in the tight two-tie-break affair.
The Spaniard never faced a break point and sent down 10 aces in registering his first FedEx ATP Head2Head win in five meetings with Berdych. Granollers awaits the winner of 12th seed Nick Kyrgios and qualifier Mischa Zverev.
Belgian 11th seed David Goffin kept his chances alive of closing the gap in the Emirates ATP Race to London with a 6-1, 7-6(0) victory over Frenchman Benoit Paire. Goffin was coming off a two-hour-plus victory over 2013 Shanghai Rolex Masters finalist Juan Martin del Potro but was in control against the Frenchman.
His first-serve points won percentage (80 to 64) was far superior to his opponent’s and he broke four times in the 74-minute encounter. Paire’s compatriot Gael Monfils is Goffin's next opponent.