For a moment there, the Dubai crowd worried that the seeds massacre that decimated the WTA tournament here last week would carry over into the men’s event as No2 seed Stan Wawrinka stood two points away from defeat to Sergiy Stakhovsky in the first round on Tuesday night.
But Wawrinka, playing in Dubai for the first time since 2008, dug deep to recover and scrape through with a 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 victory over the tricky Ukrainian, who was serving and volleying throughout the two-hour encounter, enjoying the fast conditions of the Aviation Club centre court.
Six days earlier, Wawrinka had to save a match point to beat Stakhovsky in the second round in Marseille. He didn’t face a match point on Tuesday but it was just as close.
The Swiss two-time grand slam champion was misfiring on his backhand and couldn’t find his best game but held on to record his first ever match victory in Dubai and book a second round with Croatian qualifier Franko Skugor.
“It’s good for confidence but it was a tough match, first match. I wasn’t playing well at all. I was playing not too great today. I was struggling with the conditions, with my game. Quite fast conditions. (Ball is) Flying,” said Wawrinka, who fell in the Marseille quarter-finals last week and is in search of his best form.
“I was hesitating, always being behind. And it’s tough to play especially against him who doesn’t give you too much rhythm.
“But it’s a good win, great win for me. Not playing well, still winning, still fighting, still finding a way, playing a little bit better at the end, trying to be the aggressive player on the court.
“It’s good to have a chance to play better tomorrow.”
Wawrinka broke for 5-3 in the first set but then lost six games in a row to lose the set and fall behind 0-2 in the second.
He finally stopped the bleeding and held for 1-2. The 30-year-old got the break back on a long backhand from Stakhovsky to draw level at 3-all.
The Swiss got two break points with a smooth backhand volley and he broke for a 5-3 lead.
Wawrinka finally found his backhand as he unleashed a lethal crosscourt to get triple set point. He only needed one as he levelled the match with an ace.
The reigning French Open champion was in trouble early in the decider but a stunning forehand passing shot helped him hold serve.
Wawrinka went down 0-30 while serving to stay in the match as he inched closer to defeat. He slammed a backhand passing shot for 15-30 and barely hung on to hold for 5-5.
Stakhovsky got tight while Wawrinka refocused to create a break chance the next game, and the Swiss broke on a long passing shot attempt from his opponent.
Wawrinka closed out the match on a long backhand from Stakhovsky, holding at love.
“I play him in Marseille. I saved match point to beat him. I expected a tough match, but I wasn’t expecting to play that bad,” admitted Wawrinka, who added that he has some homework to do, to find out more about his upcoming unheralded opponent.
Skugor is the surprise package of the tournament so far. The world No188 upset James Ward and Kyle Edmund in qualifying before ousting Teymuraz Gabashvili in the first round yesterday.
Late on centre court, Nick Kyrgios survived a tough test against No7 seed Martin Klizan, overcoming the quick turnaround following his title triumph in Marseille two days earlier, to advance 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in 91 minutes.
Klizan, a big-hitting lefty who won Rotterdam two weeks ago, committed 11 double faults, served at a poor 43 per cent first serves, and was broken six times.
Kyrgios was clearly struggling, unable to unleash the huge shots he is famous for regularly, but showed strong character in the way he fought. He spent most of the changeovers standing by the baseline, instead of sitting at his bench, and concedes it was a tough encounter to get through.
“I wasn’t really thinking that well out there. I probably just wanted to get the game going, I guess,” said Kyrgios, who next faces Mikhail Kukushkin.
“Mentally I was okay with it. I was actually pretty excited to get here and play. But obviously physically coming off the flights, it was tough.
“Yeah, I’m happy I got through. I wasn’t feeling great out there. To will myself is not a bad effort.”
Earlier in the day, No3 seed Tomas Berdych, who has reached the semi-finals or better in Dubai in four of the last five years, eased past Joao Sousa 6-1, 6-4 to set up a second round with Italian qualifier Thomas Fabbiano.
