By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Stanislas Wawrinka kicked off his French Open campaign on a high note after sweeping former world no. 1 Andy Murray- 6.4, 6.4, 6.2- on May 27, 2024, at the Philippe-Chatrier court in Paris, France.
Wawrinka, a winner of three Grand Slams and the former world no. 3 ranked male player of the ATP, put on a stellar outing against Murray and had one of his best performances on the clay court.
The Swiss ace is looking to clinch his second championship title in Roland Garros after bagging the 2015 French Open when he took down current world no. 1 Novak Djokovic in the grand finals.
It was all Wawrinka from the get-go as his vicious top-spin backhand strokes proved to be the main problem for the struggling Murray.
Every time Murray placed his forehand shot in Wawrinka’s backhand, no rallies ever stood to as much as 20 shots as it would either end up with a winner ball or an opposition error return.
Murray tried to adjust and inch close to the net midway through the first set but Wawrinka was just in the zone, firing his backhand missiles at will while also serving well to take an early 1-0 lead.
It was pretty much the same in the last two sets as Wawrinka continued to pounce on Murray while also capitalizing on his frustrations due to his unforced errors.
Wawrinka then put the final nail in the coffin when he ended a 13-shot rally with a down-the-line backhand power shot that steered him to a 5-2 third-set lead.
After the three-set duel between the two greats, Wawrinka’s wide disparity in the total points won became the factor in the game as he wrapped up the win with 92 points while Murray only had 78 winners in almost two hours of tennis.
Wawrinka will have a much-needed day of rest and is still waiting for his next opponent in the second round of the French Open.
