– Stan Wawrinka takes on Rublev and moves into the semi-finals
With a still dashing backhand, the Swiss beat the Russian on Friday in Sweden.
Published today at 5:31 p.m.
Wawrinka is two matches away from his first title since 2017.
AFP/Anders WIKLUND
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“For an old man it’s not so bad”: at 39, Swiss Stan Wawrinka, currently 217th in the world, beat Russian Andrey Rublev, 7th in the world, to earn a place in the semi-finals of the ATP tournament 250 from Stockholm on Friday.
Since the summer of 2023, the Helvetian has not achieved such a series of three consecutive victories. In Sweden, he got rid of the American Brandon Nakashima (38th in the world), the Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (64th) and therefore a member of the Top 10, something which had not happened to him for more than one year.
With a backhand that was always dashing, like his first transformed match point, the Swiss put Rublev out of his mind, whose racket will keep bad memories of Swedish soil, to beat him in two sets 7-6 (7/ 5), 7-6 (7/5).
“The desire and passion were always there.”
Now one of the oldest semi-finalists of the Open era, Wawrinka is two matches away from his first title since 2017, in Geneva.
Arriving on the circuit in 2002, he won the Australian Open in 2014, Roland-Garros in 2015 and the US Open in 2016. “I can’t change my age, but the most important thing for me is is that when I enter the court, I always fight,” he stressed.
Last May, before participating in his 19th Roland-Garros, he explained to AFP that “the desire and the passion (were) still there.”
AFP
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