Stan Wawrinka played his first ATP level match in over two months after receiving a wildcard into the Shanghai Masters. Fabian Marozsan defeated him 6-1 4-6 6-4 in the Round of 128.
Wawrinka made history in Shanghai before even playing a point vs. the young Italian Fabian Marozsan. He became the oldest participant in a Masters 1000 event since Jimmy Connors in 1993.
While Wawrinka had not played an ATP level match going into this one in quite some time, it does not mean he was lacking form. Wawrinka played three Challenger events between mid-August and late-September, and he found real success in each of them. The results were a semi-final loss, a final loss, and a semi-final walkover loss. His total record was 10 wins and 3 losses.
Even with the good Challenger level form, Wawrinka came into this match as a clear underdog. Marozsan was coming off of a good week in Beijing winning two matches before eventually losing to World #2 Jannik Sinner.
Marozsan got off to a quick start in this match, stacking up breaks and winning the first set in commanding fashion. Wawrinka responded well in the 2nd, staying on serve early and then breaking in the middle of the set to take control. Marozsan quickly broke back and leveled the set, but Wawrinka was able to show resilience and break to take the set 6-4. In the third set, Marozsan broke early and never looked back. They each held the rest of the way and Marozsan was able to close it out 6-4 in the 3rd.
Some key stats for Wawrinka: 3 aces, 1 double fault, 53% first serve percentage and 70% first serve points won. A telling stat was that Wawrinka only won 17% of first serve return points.
Marozsan was just a bit sharper in some of these categories: 59% first serve percentage, 83% first serve points won and 30% of first serve return points won.
Wawrinka will now have to go back to the drawing board. It’s not really known if Wawrinka will keep grinding in Challengers or try to wait to receive wild-cards to certain events. He is 40 years old and the clock is ticking on his career, but one thing is for sure. You have to admire the grind and fighting spirit of a 3-time Slam champion to keep playing and chipping away at the sport he loves.
