Kamal Ghorui
Stan Wawrinka’s long and emotional relationship with the Australian Open came to an end on Saturday, with the 40-year-old bowing out in the third round after a hard-fought defeat to Taylor Fritz in Melbourne. The popular Swiss veteran, playing the final season of his career, went down 7-6 (7/5), 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 to the ninth seed from the United States at John Cain Arena. It marked a respectful and fitting farewell for a former champion who first appeared at Melbourne Park back in 2006 and lifted the trophy in 2014. There was little to separate the two players early on. The opening set stayed on serve and was decided by a tense tie-break, where both men traded heavy forehands under the closed roof, shut due to extreme heat. Fritz, 28, edged the breaker to take the early advantage. Wawrinka responded strongly, feeding off a crowd firmly in his corner. He surged to a 3-0 lead in the second set and played some of his best tennis of the match. After saving two break points to move 5-2 ahead, he broke Fritz to seal the set in just 33 minutes. Only two days earlier, Wawrinka had made history by becoming the first man aged 40 or over to reach the third round of a Grand Slam since Ken Rosewall at the 1978 Australian Open. Exhausted after that achievement, he joked about celebrating with a beer, but Fritz showed no signs of complacency. The American raised his level again in the third set, breaking decisively in the seventh game with a powerful smash. With momentum on his side, Fritz pushed ahead and moved within touching distance of victory. Wawrinka required a medical timeout after the third set, the physical toll of the tournament clearly showing. He continued to fight but was visibly fading as Fritz closed out the match to book his place in the last 16, where he will face Italy’s fifth seed Lorenzo Musetti. Now ranked 139, Wawrinka reached a career-high world number three in 2014. His major titles came at the height of the era dominated by Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, with Grand Slam wins at the Australian Open in 2014, the French Open in 2015 and the US Open in 2016. Across his career, Wawrinka has won 16 ATP titles, the most recent coming in Geneva in 2017. He also claimed Olympic gold in doubles alongside Federer at the Beijing Games in 2008, rounding off a career that earned him lasting respect across the tennis world.
