A little over 24 hours after Stan Wawrinka opened up about his friendship with Roger Federer in an interview with Khaleej Times, the legendary Swiss turned up at the Dubai Tennis Stadium to cheer for his friend.
With Federer watching from the Royal Box, the retiring Wawrinka turned back the clock with an impressive 7-5, 6-3 win over Lebanese wild card Benjamin Hassan in the opening round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Monday.
The Germany-born Hassan did put up a fight in the first set against the three-time Grand Slam winner, but Wawrinka was in cruise control in the second set as he advanced to the next round of a tournament he had won in 2016.
Now in his farewell season, the 40-year-old is drawing big crowds in every tournament he has played.
The afternoon match on Monday, the opening day of the ATP 500 tournament, didn’t pack the stadium, but the sizeable crowd witnessed the graceful Swiss shot-maker in full flow, especially in the second set.
And the cherry on the cake was Federer’s presence in the Royal Box as the Swiss maestro smiled and waved at the fans.
Wawrinka said it was a special moment for him to play his final Dubai tournament with Federer as a special spectator.
“It’s always special for everybody (to have Federer at the stadium) because Roger is a legend of the sport and I have so many memories with him,” Wawrinka said.
Roger Federer with Salah Tahlak, Tournament Director.
Remarkably, Wawrinka also became only the second player to be ranked inside the top 100 of the ATP world rankings after turning 40.
The first player to achieve the feat was, of course, none other than Federer, who retired at the age of 41 in 2022.
“He told me that he would be coming to watch my game today, so it was nice. But yes, it always has some extra pressure (with Federer in the stands),” Wawrinka said.
There would definitely be extra pressure on Wawrinka if he gets to face Daniil Medvedev in the next round.
Medvedev, winner of the 2021 US Open title, will meet Wawrinka in the next round if he gets the better of China’s Juncheng Shang in his first-round match on Tuesday.
While Wawrinka isn’t looking too far ahead, he had some encouraging words for his first-round rival, Hassan, who brought quite a lot of Lebanese fans to the stadium on Monday.
“I have seen him for many years now. He is a great player, a tough player,” Wawrinka said.
“He has a really nice game; he tries to put pressure from the baseline. It was a tough match today; I had to really play well. I managed to find a way to win, and I am happy with my performance.”
Meanwhile, top-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime won his opening match against China’s Zhizhen Zhang 6-3, 7-6 (7/4).
Having lost last year’s final to Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, Auger-Aliassime will hope to go one step further this week in Dubai.
On Monday, the two-time US Open semifinalist comfortably clinched the first set, but Zhang forced a tie-break in the second set before Auger-Aliassime produced big shots to win the match in straight sets.
In the first match of the day, big-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard was pushed to the limit by Tunisian wildcard Moez Echargui.
The 21-year-old Perricard relied on his big serve to bail him out, winning the dramatic contest 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/4).
In the last match of the night, Britain’s Jack Draper fired 13 aces to beat French qualifier Quentin Halys 7-6 (10/8), 6-3.
Draper, who is making a comeback after a long injury layoff, was pleased with the victory on his Dubai debut.
“It wasn’t my cleanest performance, but after all this time, I’m really proud of myself. The way I came out and competed; it wasn’t easy but from here on, hopefully I can go from strength to strength,” he said.
Source: Khaleej Times