Former champion Stan Wawrinka overcame an early scare to defeat Viktor Troicki 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(9), in the third round at the Australian Open.
Experiencing a far from perfect start to the match, Swiss fourth seed squandered a 3-1 lead in the opening set. Troicki, who has never reached the fourth round at Melbourne in his career, was able to capitalize to Wawrinka’s costly first set error count to secure the lead in under an 30 minutes. The early offensive was one that frustrated the three-time grand slam champion, who wasn’t afraid to express his emotions on the court.
Trailing by a set to the Serbian, Wawrinka finally managed to get his groove in the match as he became more consistent with the help of his trusty backhand. The surge sparked trouble for Troicki, who struggled to exert his dominance beyond the opening set. Wawrinka’s ability to turn the match around was aided by his rival, who’s questionable shot-making tactics cost him dearly in the key moments of the match.
Boasting a two-sets advantage in his favour, Wawrinka extended his lead midway through the fourth set. A weak shot from the forehand side of Troicki failed to go over the net, allowing the fourth seed to break for a 3-2 lead. Closing the match out was problematic for Wawrinka, who at times look shy of the player which won the US Open last year. A tentative service game ended with a double fault followed by a forehand into the net to allow Troicki to break for the first time since the opening set, levelling at 5-5. Another exchange of breaks followed into the tiebreaker. A sluggish Troicki service game, which featured back-to-back double faults, handed Wawrinka his second chance to serve it out. Then, once again Wawrinka failed to capitalize with another below-par performance in his own service game.
The patchy play of both players continued into the tiebreaker, but it was the 30-year-old Swiss that prevailed. Pushed to his limits, Wawrinka triumphed on his second match point after an attempted Troicki double handed backhand down the line failed to go over the net.
“It was really close in the tiebreak. I was really happy to get through and not play a fifth set.” Said Wawrinka during his on-court interview.
Wawrinka’s rocky performance is best illustrated in the match statistics with his 43 winners being almost matched by his 42 unforced errors. On a more positive note, he produced 16 aces (nine more than his third round opponent). Despite the mixed display, the Swiss spoke of his delight of playing his match on the Rod Laver Arena. The venue was where he won his maiden grand slam title at the 2014 Australian Open.
“It is always something special (to play here). I remember everything about the final, about the ceremony, about the two weeks (of playing).” He recounted.
“It is always going to be special for me to come back here and play (on the Rod Laver Arena).”
“I was really happy when I saw that I was going to play on Rod Laver.”
In the last sixteen the fourth seed will play Italy’s Andreas Seppi, who defeated home favourite Nick Kyrgios earlier this week. Seppi booked his Wawrinka showdown with a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(1), 7-6(2), win over Belgium’s Steve Darcis.
“It’s going to be a good match. He has been playing really well this tournament.” Wawrinka said of Seppi.
Last playing the Italian at the 2014 BNP Paribas Open, Wawrinka leads Seppi 8-4 in their head-to-head. The fourth round encounter will be that first time that they have faced each other in a grand slam tournament.
