Stanislas Wawrinka, ranked #8 in the world, made tennis history today, beating world #1 Rafael Nadal 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-3 in the finals of the Australian Open. Twenty-eight year old Wawrinka from Switzerland had a 0-12 head to head record with Nadal. So it can truly be said that this is history for the Swiss player, who will be the number 1 player in Switzerland come Monday. He will move up five slots and will be named the world’s #3 on January 27. This is the first Grand Slam win for Wawrinka, who had a tougher road during the Australian Open to reach the finals. He had to beat Robredo in the fourth round, then went on to beat defending champion, Novak Djokovic in the quarter finals and Tomas Berdych in the semis.
However, it was still not a breeze to win against Nadal, who put up a good fight despite being not 100% fit for the crucial final game. He had a glimpse of the victory ahead when he went up two games to nil before Nadal went on an injury time-out in the third set, with a back problem. The pain medicine might have worked wonders for Nadal, because he fought back and won the third set. The game only lasted for two hours and 21 minutes.
Wawrinka held on to his nerves, which seemed flustered after Nadal’s injury timeout, which led to Nadal winning the set. Nadal still gave up a good fight during the fourth set. But it was not enough, with Wawrinka closing the set and the match with a love game, to the delight of the Swiss fans who were wearing red shirts and faces painted with the Swiss flag.
Wawrinka became just the second tennis player from Switzerland to win a Grand Slam singles title. The other one is Roger Federer who has 17 Grand Slam titles to his name, four of them Australian Open titles.
A dangerous player
Tennis greats and Hall of Famers Pete Sampras and Rod Laver thought that Nadal would be the champion, after Nadal almost clinically disposed of Roger Federer in their semi-final game. But that prediction proved wrong.
Wawrinka is a dangerous player, who is a baseliner. He has one the most powerful backhands in men’s tennis, according to John McEnroe. He also has a powerful serve, which can go as fast as 144 mph or 232 kilometers per hour. But of course, he was not a favorite to win this year’s first Grand Slam, especially looking at his head to head record against Nadal.
Still, he is strong-willed and can raise his game when needed. He overcame his 13-match losing streak against Novak Djokovic at the crucial moment, and proved that he was a player to watch out for this year. His win against Djokovic is a great confidence booster, although Wawrinka started the year winning the Chennai Open.
Stanislas Wawrinka, the new Australian Open champion, truly made history, being the first man to defeat former Slam champions Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal is a single Grand Slam tournament.
Photo credit: Taken by Christian Mesiano under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
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