- Stan Wawrinka (ATP 98) loses in the 2nd round of the French Open to Pawel Kotov (RUS/ATP 56) with 6:7 (5:7), 4:6, 6:1, 6:7 (5:7).
- Despite an inspiring comeback, the Vaudois had to admit defeat in 4 sets in a partly high-class match.
- In the third round, Kotow will face Australian Open winner Jannik Sinner (ITA/ATP 2).
Shortly before midnight in Paris, there were many indications that Stan Wawrinka could once again force a 5th set. However, Pawel Kotov made up for a break deficit in the 4th set, fought his way into the tiebreak and used his 2nd match point after 3:40 hours to score what was probably the biggest win of his career to date.
It was the end of an extremely competitive duel in which the Russian had repeatedly lured his opponent to the net with drop shots. However, the oldest participant in the field was, as so often, tireless and chased every ball until the very last point in the Davis Cup atmosphere on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
Dominant servers at the beginning
The match had already started out extremely evenly. In the first set, the two protagonists did not allow a single break chance. In the hard-fought short decision, the Russian, who was only playing in the second round of a Grand Slam tournament for the second time ever, had the upper hand and won 7:5.
In the second set, the world number 56 managed the first service break of the match to make it 5:3. Wawrinka managed to break back straight away, but had to give up his serve again immediately to make it 4:6. So the “marathon man” had his back against the wall after 1 hour and 50 minutes.
7 games in a row
The 39-year-old was not yet defeated and threw everything into the mix. With the score at 0:1 in the 3rd set, he went on a run, overwhelmed his opponent with powerful groundstrokes and won 7 games in a row.
In the fourth set, “Stan” continued this performance. He managed to break to 3:1 and had two opportunities to confirm this. At this moment, however, Kotow found his best tennis again and fought his way back. After an up and down, set number 4 also went into a tiebreak.
After winning the second short decision, Kotow was finally able to celebrate his first advance into the third round of a Grand Slam tournament. Things will not be any easier for the 25-year-old there. He will be up against Australian Open winner Jannik Sinner, who beat veteran Richard Gasquet (FRA/ATP 124) 6:4, 6:2, 6:4 at the same time on Court Philippe-Chatrier.