Stan Wawrinka (ATP 217) finally won two matches in a row on Thursday at the WTA 250 tournament in Stockholm, Sweden. After beating the American Brandon Nakashima (ATP 38) in the first round, the 39-year-old Vaudois defeated the Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ATP 64, 25 years old) in three sets 6-4 3-6 7- 5 to find themselves in the quarter-finals.
Stan Wawrinka had not won two matches in a row in the same tournament since the US Open 2023. At the end of summer, the Vaudois beat the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka in the first round and the Argentinian Tomas Etcheverry in the second. He then fell in the third round against the future winner of the tournament, the Italian Jannik Sinner.
Wednesday, the first set was quick (31 minutes) between two players very comfortable on their serve. There were aces, winning serves, but few long rallies and no break points offered. Until the seventh game, when Davidovich was a little less effective in his engagements. Result: two winning returns from Wawrinka and two exchanges to the advantage of the Vaudois for the only break of the round. Then, at 5-4, “Stan the Man” concluded the deal on his third set point with a serve at 203 km/h.
The second round was similar to the first, even if the exchanges were a little longer. Neither player gave their opponent a chance to break, until 4-3. There, Wawrinka left an opportunity to Davidovitch, who did not hesitate to take advantage of it. Break done, he confirmed behind and won the set in 39 minutes.
The Spaniard didn’t wait that long to take a two-length lead in the last round. From the first game, almost 10 minutes long, he took Wawrinka’s serve and confirmed the break to lead 2-0. But this set was nothing like the other two. Both players lost their serve twice and found themselves at five all. There, Stan served fire (2 aces) and achieved a final break to win the set and the match.
In the next round, Stan Wawrinka will face the Russian Andrey Rublev (ATP 7, 26 years old) or the French Alexandre Müller (ATP 70, 27 years old).
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