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01/24/2020
The Vaudois went through all moods before winning in five sets against Andreas Seppi
Tennis » Stan Wawrinka (N ° 15) returns from nowhere! Sick for two days, the Vaudois qualified for the knockout stages of the Australian Open after a success acquired in 3 h 38 min ahead of Andreas Seppi (ATP 85).
This 4-6 7-5 6-3 3-6 6-4 victory is almost a miracle. Andreas Seppi, in fact, served 6-4 5-4 to lead two sets to nothing. The Italian then managed the first break of the fifth set at 3-3 in the fateful seventh game. But he had to overwhelm a 5-3 ball on his commitment before yielding to a Stan Wawrinka returned in the last ten minutes of this part the “Stanimal” which nothing can resist.
Before, the Vaudois had to fight with the means at hand, diminished by this cursed virus. “I stayed in my room for two days. I only left her for an hour to go see the doctor, he says. I warmed up in the afternoon. I still felt able to line up. But during the game, I had to go and throw up twice. “
A unique tournament
The fate that Stan Wawrinka married last night at the Margaret Court Arena reminds us of a truth: everything, yes really everything is possible at the Australian Open. Like seeing the programming delayed on the short appendices due to the obligation to clean the sand that the rains of the last hours had carried …
This tournament, which is sometimes played in extreme conditions, can allow unlikely reversals. We saw Tuesday remontada of Fabio Fognini against Reilly Opelka, that of Tommy Paul on Wednesday in front of Grigor Dimitrov and that of Taylor Fritz yesterday against Kevin Anderson. Even if he was not led to two sets like the Italian and the two Americans, Stan Wawrinka can, too, feel like a survivor who saw the end up close, very close .
The Vaudois will therefore play for the first time since 2017 the sixteenth finals of the Australian Open, of which he was the winner in 2014. On Saturday, he will, of course, have to look after his returns from service against John Isner (N ° 19), against which he remains on three defeats. But in front of the American giant, it will be advisable in the first place that he finds all his punch on his games of service, that he is able as during his first round against Damir Dzumhur to gain the point in one or two strikes. As we know, the slightest station wagon takes on the appearance of a disaster facing a waiter like John Isner. “I have two days to retype myself. We’ll also see how Isner feels, he says. But the idea will be to make him play as much as possible. “
Faced with Andreas Seppi, Stan Wawrinka had chosen to play in a long chain. Due to his physical condition, he probably did not feel able to play more explosively. He also feared, rightly, the blocking qualities of the Transalpine.
A vain quarrel
Conscious of having fallen into a certain lethargy after an hour of match, Stan Wawrinka then launched out in a vain quarrel with the referee of chair Alison Hughes and the supervisor Gerry Armstrong, the man who had disqualified John McEnroe in this same tournament thirty years ago. All means were good to find that adrenaline without which nothing would have been possible. “Even if I don’t think I was wrong all the way in my discussions with the referees, I needed to vent all my frustration,” he admits. You have to get the atmosphere going. “Even if it means trying to rage the ball over the roof of the Margaret Court Arena. ATS
Results
Melbourne. Australian Open. 2nd round of men’s singles: Stan Wawrinka (SUI / 15) beats Andreas Seppi (ITA) 4-6 7-5 6-3 3-6 6-4. Rafael Nadal (ESP / 1) beats Federico Delbonis (ARG) 6-3 7-6 (7/4) 6-1. Daniil Medvedev (RUS / 4) defeated Pedro Martinez (ESP) 7-5 6-1 6-3. Dominic Thiem (AUT / 5) beats Alex Bolt (AUS) 6-2 5-7 6-7 (5/7) 6-1 6-2. Alexander Zverev (RUS / 7) beats Egor Gerasimov (BLR) 7-6 (7/5) 6-4 7-5. Gaël Monfils (FRA / 10) defeats Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 4-6 7-6 (10/8) 6-4 7-5. David Goffin (BEL / 11) defeats Pierre-Hughes Herbert (FRA) 6-1 6-4 4-6 1-6 6-3. Karen Khachanov (RUS / 16) defeats Mikael Ymer (SWE) 6-2 2-6 6-4 3-6 7-6 (10/8). Andrey Rublev (RUS / 17) beats Yuichi Sugita (JPN) 6-2 6-3 7-6 (7/5). John Isner (USA / 19) beats Alejandro Tabilo (CHI) 6-4 6-3 6-3. Nick Kyrgios (AUS / 23) beats Gilles Simon (FRA) 6-2 6-4 4-6 7-5. Fernando Verdasco (ESP) defeats Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO / 26) 4-6 7-6 (7/5) 6-4 6-4. Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP / 27) beats Peter Gojowczyk (GER) 6-4 6-1 1-6 6-4. Taylor Fritz (USA / 29) defeated Kevin Anderson (RSA) 4-6 6-7 (5/7) 7-6 (7/4) 6-2 6-2.
Ladies’ 2nd round: Belinda Bencic (SUI / 6) beats Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) 7-5 7-5. Karolina Pliskova (CZE / 2) beats Laura Siegemund (GER) 6-3 6-3. Simona Halep (ROU / 4) defeats Harriet Dart (GBR) 6-2 6-4. Elina Svitolina (UKR / 5) defeats Lauren Davis (USA) 6-2 7-6 (8/6). Kiki Bertens (NED / 9) beats Ariana Rodionova (AUS) 6-3 7-5. Elise Mertens (BEL / 16) defeats Heather Watson (GBR) 6-3 6-0. Angelique Kerber (GER / 17) defeats Priscilla Hon (AUS) 6-3 6-2. Donna Vekic (CRO / 19) defeats Alizé Cornet (FRA) 6-4 6-2. Catherine Bellis (USA) beats Karolina Muchova (CZE / 20) 6-4 6-4. Yulia Putsintseva (KAZ) beats Danielle Collins (USA / 26) 6-4 2-6 7-5. Anett Kontaveit (EST / 28) defeats Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP) 6-2 4-6 6-1. Anastasia Pavlychenkova (RUS / 30) beats Taylor Townsend (USA) 7-5 7-6 (7/1).
1st round of the double ladies: Coco Gauff / Catherine McNally (USA) beat Karo-lina Muchova / Jil Teichmann (CZE / SUI) 6-3 6-2.
COMMENT
Fifth set. Andreas Seppi leads 4-3 and 40-30 on serve when he thinks he’s hitting an ace. He hopes very much to say the least by asking for verification of the video – in tennis, it is unanimous.
At his clan, the Italian sketches a grin before drawing with his thumb and forefinger a gap, the air of saying: if the ball is fault, it is only that. No more. A few seconds later, the “hawk’s eye” validates what the linesman thought he saw: on the screen, the trace is indeed out of bounds, but by no means. Disappointed as no one could have imagined then, the experienced Andreas Seppi, 35 years old including 17 on the professional circuit, will only score one point until the end of the match, which will soon take victory for a moribund Stan Wawrinka: 6-4 in the decisive heat.
What is tennis about? At one or two millimeters, like a finger gap. Has fallen hope. And to this technology created by humans but who does not hesitate to turn against who invokes it for the wrong reasons: to win by luck, to win by chance, somewhere. He will never say it, or only to his relatives in the privacy of the locker room. But while each point was worth three and we could have cut with a knife the cloud of nervousness which seemed to have taken place above the Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne, Andreas Seppi had the weakness to rely on the machine. And when it proved him wrong, the man’s fragile brain, the man’s beating heart and the man’s cotton legs collapsed.
Pierre Salinas
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