{"id":425788,"date":"2026-01-22T12:11:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T12:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/425788\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T12:11:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T12:11:10","slug":"wawrinka-40-makes-history-in-australian-open-after-grueling-4-1-2-hour-match-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/425788\/","title":{"rendered":"Wawrinka, 40, makes history in Australian Open after grueling 4 1\/2-hour match \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) \u2014 Stan Wawrinka had to dig deep to edge Arthur Gea in a 4 1\/2-hour, five-set epic to become the first man 40 or older to reach the third round of a Grand Slam since the 1978 Australian Open.<\/p>\n<p>Fittingly, it was the longest match at the 2026 Australian Open, Wawrinka\u2019s last at Melbourne Park.<\/p>\n<p>The 2014 champion and a three-time major winner overall, Wawrinka held it together while 21-year-old qualifier Gea struggled with cramps in the fifth set\u2019s 10-point tiebreaker, hanging on for 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (3) on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/3ac2514717220e6494e303587632fb184bbdb6ff58aac3fd6a9a853d837965e8.jpg\" data-pswp- data-pswp-width=\"1024\" data-pswp-height=\"682\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/3ac2514717220e6494e303587632fb184bbdb6ff58aac3fd6a9a853d837965e8.jpg\" alt=\"Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland falls during his second round match against Arthur Gea of France at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo\/Dita Alangkara)\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStan Wawrinka of Switzerland falls during his second round match against Arthur Gea of France at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo\/Dita Alangkara)<\/p>\n<p>At 40 years, 310 days, Wawrinka was the first 40-plus man to go so far at a major since Australian great Ken Rosewall did it 48 years ago, at the age of 44.<\/p>\n<p>The Swiss veteran announced last month that this year would be his last on the elite tour.<\/p>\n<p>Asked in an on-court interview how he felt after 4 hours, 33 minutes on court, Wawrinka said, \u201cExhausted!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tThe Warm-Up<\/p>\n<p class=\"frequency\">Winnipeg Jets Game Days<\/p>\n<p>On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a class=\"email-subscribe-link button the-warmup inline-block-logged-in\">Sign up for The Warm-Up<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/theWarm-up-tile.jpg\" alt=\"Sign up for The Warm-Up\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs I told you, it\u2019s my last Australian Open, so I\u2019m trying to last as long as possible. Not only I had fun but you gave me so much energy. I\u2019m not young any more so I need the extra.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Asked how he might recover before the third round, Wawrinka recalled a spectator dropping a beer earlier in the match and thought he\u2019d raise a glass.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll pick up a beer,\u201d he said. \u201cI deserve one!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP tennis: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/tennis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) \u2014 Stan Wawrinka had to dig deep to edge Arthur Gea in a 4 1\/2-hour,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-425788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}