Stan Wawrinka put his tough first round match against Martin Klizan behind him, easing past the American Steve Johnson 63 64 64.
Wawrinka’s epic struggle with Klizan was well and truly forgotten as he broke the American once in each set, and denying the American on all of his break points in a match that featured more quick shot-making than long, probing rallies.
The prevailing themes of the match were consistent in each set. Johnson would get a glimmer of an opportunity by reaching thirty-all or deuce before Stan moved up a gear to hold. The 2014 champion would then apply pressure in the next game to force breaks in each of the first two sets. Johnson to his credit forced break-back points immediately after being broken in sets two and three, but would be denied on each occasion.
Aside from these games, and Wawrinka’s first service game in the third set, the fourth seed was in imperious form on serve, winning 100% of first serve points in the opener, and also maintaining impressive numbers in sets two and three.
The American fought gamely, but was unable to engineer enough forehand opportunities to trouble Wawrinka, and his weaker backhand wing, where he has tendency to play the sliced backhand, was punished regularly by the three-time slam winner. The American ensured that each set had a relatively competitive look on the scoreboard, but the Swiss was in reality in complete control.
Wawrinka emphasised this by making some forays to the net as the third set progressed, showing some incredibly delicate touches with exquisite drop-volleys. Stan closed the match out with an ace and a Johnson return error in a love service hold to get his quest for a second Australian Open crown back on track.
The aggressive style of the match was highlighted in the statistics, with both men hitting more winners than unforced errors, and the match finishing in a relatively quick one hour and fifty-two minutes.
Wawrinka: “Today was a great level, I’m really happy with my focus. I think today I was feeling the ball better playing more aggressive. I’m really happy with my level in general and now I go to get ready for the next one.”
Wawrinka will face the winner of the match between the Italian Paolo Lorenzi, a dogged competitor who is most at home on clay, and the volatile twenty-ninth seed Viktor Troicki, which was live as this match finished at a set-all.
