Stan Wawrinka has narrowly avoided a huge upset by fighting back to defeat Lukas Rosol 4-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, in the first round of the French Open.
A day before his first round encounter, Wawrinka described Rosol as ‘a dangerous player’. The world No.59 successfully lived up to this hype as he produced an array of outstanding shots to push Wawrinka to his limits both mentally and physically.
In their fifth meeting on the ATP tour, the Czech underdog was the first player to make his mark against an unsettled Wawrinka. In the fifth game of the match, Rosol seized his chance by breaking for a 3-2 lead. The surprise break was enough to guarantee the set for Rosol as the defending champion failed to find a way to retrieve the break. A heavy backhand from the swiss player went sailing far beyond the baseline to gift the opening set to the world No.59.
The French Open champion has never lost the opening set to Rosol and his response was that of a true champion as he raced to take the second set after 32 minutes. The turning point occurred in the fourth game of the set after the French Open champion broke for the first time to move ahead 3-1. The break was part of Wawrinka’s five-game winning streak.
The promising second set from Wawrinka failed to continue in the third as Rosol once again displayed some stunning tennis. A costly double fault handed the Czech the early break before a world-class backhand slice at the net moved him ahead to a 3-0 lead. The inconsistency in the Swiss player’s game resulted in a rapidly rising error count. The explanation for Rosol’s success in the set was his ability to remain sharp on the court throughout and not allow his rival enough time to dictate the points. Serving for the set, Rosol raced to two set points after producing a blistering backhand winner. The set was then awarded to the Czech after a long rally concluded with a Wawrinka shot sailing outside the court.
Wawrinka is no stranger from coming from behind in major tournaments. On six previous occasions the defending champion has come from two sets down to win the match. The problem was he couldn’t get away from his Czech nemesis. Three opportunities for a 2-0 lead in the fourth set came and went as Rosol moved to just five games away from the shock win. Wawrinka was then in danger of being broken for 2-3 before be battled back by holding his service game with an ace down the line.
Wawrinka gets crowd on their feet after epic 31-shot rally #FrenchOpen https://t.co/dspggRN1Zj
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) 23 May 2016
The perseverance from Wawrinka finally paid off after a cross-court backhand winner granted him the break for 5-3. The defending champion capitalized on the break by holding his serve to force the match into a final set.
As Wawrinka faced the prospect of becoming the first men’s defending champion to lose in the first round of the French Open, he started the decider positively after breaking for 2-1 with the help of an Rosol unforced error. That game proved to be the pinnacle moment of the entire match as Wawrinka stayed firm on his serve to move one game away from the win. As Rosol served to stay in the match, a forehand returned out by the Czech granted Wawrinka his first match point. He failed on his first chance as his shot went wide, leading to Rosol holding the game.
After squandering his maiden match point, Wawrinka then had a chance to serve for the match. A serve out wide rewarded the Swiss player with two additional chances to seal the marathon match. He finally took the match with a backhand smash at the net.
Watch match point as @stanwawrinka downs Rosol (for the 2nd time in 2 weeks) 4-6 6-1 3-6 6-3 6-4 #RG16 https://t.co/DA9twYGymC
— Roland Garros (@rolandgarros) 23 May 2016
During Wawrinka’s opening match, he produced 46 unforced errors and 56 winners. In the next round he will play Japan’s Taro Daniel, who defeated Martin Klizan in his first round match.
