Stan Wawrinka described his marathon second-round win at the \u00adAustralian Open as a special moment in his career after becoming the first\u00a040-year-old to reach the third round of a men\u2019s grand slam in 48\u00a0years.<\/p>\n
Wawrinka, who will retire at the end of the season, survived a five\u2011set epic against Arthur Gea of France, recovering from 2-1 down in sets to win 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (3) after 4hr\u00a033min.<\/p>\n
Asked where this victory ranks in his career the 2014 Australian Open champion said: \u201cNever compare the past. That\u2019s really never a good idea. For me, I\u2019m always trying to stay in the present, living with what\u2019s \u00adhappening in the present.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, after a tough year like last year, knowing it\u2019s my last one here, my last Australian Open, my last year, it\u2019s really special.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe emotions are really completely different. It\u2019s a feeling that\u2019s tough to describe. But it\u2019s the reason why at 40 I\u2019m still pushing myself, pushing the limit, practising hard in the off-season, it\u2019s to live those moments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wawrinka will have a shot at a top player when he faces the ninth seed, Taylor Fritz, in round three. Fritz, who has been nursing a knee injury, progressed with a calm 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 win over Vit Kopriva.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited for it,\u201d said Fritz. \u201cI think it will be a fun match. I\u2019ve looked up to Stan for a long time. I know he\u2019s playing well. I practised with him in Perth at the United Cup. His average time on court per match this year has to be something insane because even at the United Cup he was battling long three-setters every match. It\u2019s so impressive the level and just the physicality he\u2019s still bringing.\u201d<\/p>\n
There were no problems for Jannik Sinner, the second seed and defending champion, or the 10-times champion Novak Djokovic on Thursday. Sinner eased past the Australian James Duckworth, winning 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 and Djokovic dismissed the \u00adItalian qualifier Francesco Maestrelli 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Iga Swiatek continued to build momentum at the bottom of the women\u2019s draw, defeating Marie Bouzkova 6-2, 6-3 to advance to round three, where she will face the 31st seed Anna Kalinskaya. Swiatek said her goal for the season is to be kinder to herself by resting more.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy goal for this year [is] to go somewhere and just rest and not do anything because I tend to do other stuff, like off-court obligations,\u201d she said. \u201cObviously there is stuff that needs to be done. I also take quite a lot on my shoulders. My goal for this season is actually to unplug a bit better. Hopefully I\u2019m going to have more energy till the end of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Belinda Bencic, the 10th seed, fell 6-3, 0-6, 6-4 to the 19-year-old qualifier Nikola Bartunkova, the first significant upset in the women\u2019s draw.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stan Wawrinka described his marathon second-round win at the \u00adAustralian Open as a special moment in his career…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":{"0":"post-423335","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}