On an oppressively hot day in Melbourne, Stanislas Wawrinka turned up the heat to progress 6-4 6-2 6-4 against Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen. Despite the fact that he has not dropped a set in this year’s Open, Wawrinka had struggled to find his range in his first two matches.
This was another match and Wawrinka came out firing on all cylinders. Hitting the fuzz off the ball, Wawrinka’s backhand was in imperious form which was trouble for Nieminen. Nieminen’s left-handed advantage turned out to be a disadvantage in this match because his natural cross-court forehand went to Wawrinka’s backhand. Wawrinka has little trouble in taking his backhand early, as evidenced in last year’s final versus Rafael Nadal, and this caused all manner of problems for Nieminen. The player’s traded holds of serve before Wawrinka pressured the Nieminen serve at 1-2, scoring a couple of break points but failing to take them. Wawrinka’s serve was excellent all day, despite a slightly low first serve percentage for the day at fifty-three, he won ninety percent of points behind it. Knocking on the door for the whole set and producing forehand and backhand winners at will, he would produce fifty-five winners in the match, Wawrinka took his chance with Nieminen serving at 4-5. He quickly scored two set points and took the set with a huge forehand winner on the second time of asking.
The second set was a Wawrinka masterclass as he relaxed and produced free-flowing tennis. Although Wawrinka was troubled in his first service game of the set, he urged himself to not allow Nieminen to break because he didn’t want to release the pressure Nieminen faced. Having closed the game with a forehand winner Wawrinka looked poised to break in the second game. There used to be a series on Youtube called ‘Federer Fundamentals’ which looked at the ways in which Roger Federer dominated matches. One of the fundamentals was called, ‘Controlling the Centre’ which meant that Federer would hit ball from corner to corner whilst the opposing player scrambled. Meanwhile, Federer would be in the centre of the court, controlling where the other player was moving to. This was exactly how Wawrinka was playing Nieminen, he controlled the centre of the court, sending forehands from corner to corner, acutely angled backhands cross-court followed by down the line winners and running Nieminen ragged. A return backhand winner cross-court helped him get to break point which he duly converted for a 2-0 lead. From here, Wawrinka played lights out tennis, he hit every ball with intent and there was nothing Nieminen could do to stem the flow and prevent the double break. The set was quickly over, Wawrinka taking it 6-2.
The third set was a tighter affair with Nieminen taking an early break for a 2-1 lead as a Wawrinka forehand floated long. However, he was unable to consolidate the break. Wawrinka upped his game and took it with a heavily angled backhand cross-court, the floated response driven away for a winner. Wawrinka’s net play during the match was impressive, he approached twenty-eight times and won seventy-nine percent of those points. The set rolled on much as the first had with both players trading holds, Wawrinka threatening to break but failing to convert. Ultimately, it came down to Nieminen’s inability to cope with the pressure sent his way. Serving at 4-5, he fell into a 0-30 hole and a forehand return winner gave Wawrinka three match points. A netted forehand from Nieminen gave Wawrinka the match and one step closer to defending his title.
On his next opponent, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Wawrinka said, “He’s been playing really good. I saw him a little bit this tournament. I lost against him last year French Open first round.” Having lost to him last year, Wawrinka is aware of the danger and no doubt, Magnus Norman, will have put some thought into what tactics Wawrinka will have to employ to score the win. However, based on this performance, Wawrinka should be confident of a victory and a potential quarter-final match with either David Ferrer or Kei Nishikori.
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