Wawrinka captures first Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships title

Sport360 staff 21:50 27/02/2016
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  • Two-time Grand Slam champion Wawrinka landed his first title in Dubai.

    Stan Wawrinka captured his first Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships title, winning a remarkable ninth consecutive ATP World Tour final, by defeating Marcos Baghdatis 6-4, 7-6 (13) on Saturday night at the Aviation Club.

    The No.2 seed, who had never won a single match in Dubai prior to this week, had to save five set points in the second-set tiebreak, and converted on his third championship point to lift the trophy, the 13th of his career and second of the year.

    “It was a really tough final, it’s always a tough match against Marcos, I had to fight until the end. It was a crazy tiebreak. It was my best match of the week,” said Wawrinka on-court after his win.

    Making his first Dubai appearance since 2008, Wawrinka almost fell in the first round as he was two points away from suffering defeat at the hands of Sergiy Stakhovsky but recovered and elevated his level bit by bit throughout the week.

    Baghdatis, who was searching for a first title since 2010, entered the match with a 0-5 record against Wawrinka, but pushed the Swiss hard in the second set, but failed to convert on any of his five set points.

    The first break points of the match came in game five when Wawrinka sent a forehand wide. He saved the first with a good serve but pushed a wild forehand long to get broken and fall behind 2-3.

    But Baghdatis returned the favour, hitting a string of errors to trail 0-40 and Wawrinka broke back at love with a smooth forehand pass.

    A horror service game from Baghdatis at 4-5 saw the Cypriot double fault three times and Wawrinka took a one-set lead in 41 minutes on his fifth opportunity.

    Wawrinka was squandering several chances on the Baghdatis second serve, which was as slow as 136km/hr at times.

    The classiest moment of the match came in the third game of the second set when Wawrinka unintentionally slammed an overhead straight at Baghdatis. The Swiss apologised right away and they high-fived on their way to their benches for the changeover.

    The second set was a tight affair with neither player flinching but Baghdatis’ first serve percentage was as low as 40 per cent and Wawrinka was clearly not capitalising on those second serves.

    This was more of a chess match, with calculated pace, many slice-to-slice exchanges, and cautious net approaches.

    The Wawrinka backhand did not make many appearances, not as many as you’d expect anyway, but when he hit it, it came at a crucial moment to bring up deuce as Baghdatis was serving at 5-6 to stay in the match.

    Baghdatis held his nerve and his serve though to force a tiebreak.

    Wawrinka got two mini-breaks to lead 3-0 in the tiebreak.

    He gifted back one of the mini-breaks with a double-fault. Both players produced an incredible eighth point of the breaker, as Wawrinka attacked and his opponent defended and the Swiss star edged closer to victory with a 5-3 hold.

    But Wawrinka double-faulted to hand over his second mini-break and they were back on serve in the tiebreak.

    A bizarre backhand mis-hit from Wawrinka saw Baghdatis draw level at 5-5. A lame return from Wawrinka on yet another Baghdatis second serve gave the Cypriot his first set point. But Wawrinka saved it with a monster serve for 6-6.

    Wawrinka got his first match point moments later but he hit a terrible backhand down the line, which was a mile wide, to let it slip by.

    It was Baghdatis’ turn to get another set point with a good serve to lead 8-7. But he dumped an easy forehand into the net and they were back on level terms at 8-8.

    Wawrinka netted an easy error to give Baghdatis a third set point but that too vanished into thin air.

    A line judge made a wrong call and overruled himself before Baghdatis got a fourth set point for 10-9.

    Wawrinka upped the ante, sending his opponent left and right to save it.

    The 30-year-old got a second championship point with a good serve and drive winner for 11-10.

    A gutsy forehand from Baghdatis saw him save a second championship point. He got a fifth set point but Wawrinka saved it.

    A third championship point for Wawrinka was saved by a Baghdatis service winner. 13-13

    Wawrinka then took hold of a fourth championship point, he slammed a 194km/hr service winner but the umpire called let. But it only delayed the inevitable as the two-time Grand Slam champion sealed the title on a wide backhand from Baghdatis, who challenged it but it was wide.

    The Swiss has been alone without a team or coach all week in Dubai and joked that he had no one to thank.

    “I really enjoyed the atmosphere, it was a great level. I was talking to Marcos last night, he’s a great friend, and I told him that every time he steps on the court he has a lot of fans. He’s a great player, so congratulations to you and your team, I hope you keep playing at this level all year,” said Wawrinka.

    “I can’t thank my team, I’m alone here, so thanks to all the crowd.”

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