Stan Wawrinka has suffered a 7-6(4), 6-3, loss to Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur in the first round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
The world No.3 looked on course for a straightforward win as he raced to a 3-0 lead after eight minutes before becoming undone by his own lacklustre play. Wawrinka’s 15 winners were cancelled out by his 14 unforced errors in the first set as Dzumhur produced glimpses of his talent to take proceedings into a tiebreaker. Once again, it was the consistency of the underdog that proved pivotal as Dzumhur fired an 172 km/h ace down the line to reward him two set points, triumphing on his first with the help of a backhand winner.
As Wawrinka continued to struggle to find the form which took him to the Dubai title 12 month ago, the Bosnian world No.77 surged to a 5-1 lead. On the verge of grabbing one of the most significant victories of his career, nerves began to hinder Dzumhur as the Swiss second seed retrieved one of the breaks. Unfortunately for Swiss tennis fans, it was too little too late for Wawrinka. A winning forehand volley granted Dzumhur a match point, which he converted after a 10-shot rally concluded with another error from the world No.3.
Wawrinka’s final tally of 29 unforced errors compared to 11 winners was the telling factor of the match against his opponents 20 and 23.
24-year-old Dzumhur, who is yet to reach an ATP final, will play Spain’s Marcel Granollers in the second round. Granollers dropped just five games during his 6-3, 6-2, win over Jiri Vesely on Monday.
