In what is expected to be his last appearance on clay in his home country, Swiss tennis icon Stan Wawrinka lost a three-set battle to Portugal’s Jaime Faria on Tuesday in the opening round of the EFG Swiss Open Gstaad. Faria came away with a 6-7 (8), 6-4, 6-4 victory in a match that lasted just under two hours and 40 minutes.
Wawrinka, who is 41 years old and has announced plans to step away from professional tennis at the end of this season, served up 16 aces during the contest but was unable to convert any of his six break-point opportunities. Tournament organizers marked the occasion by presenting the three-time Grand Slam champion with a pair of new skis as a farewell tribute.
Elsewhere at the Gstaad event, Greek veteran Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Peru’s Ignacio Buse, the No. 5 seed, by a score of 6-4, 6-4, winning 37 of 48 service points in the process. No. 6 seed Juan Manuel Cerundolo came back from a set down to beat Czech Republic’s Zdenek Kolar 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Frenchman Quentin Halys, Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann, Kazakhstan’s Aleksandr Shevchenko, and Swiss wild card Jerome Kym also moved on to the next round.
At the Nordea Open in Bastad, Sweden, No. 8 seed Sebastian Baez dropped the opening set before recovering to defeat Swedish hopeful Max Dahlin 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. The other seeded competitors all came through their matches, including No. 5 seed Nuno Borges of Portugal over French wild card Moise Kouame 6-4, 6-2; No. 6 seed Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands over Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel 7-6 (0), 6-4; and No. 7 seed Thiago Agustin Tirante of Argentina over Austria’s Sebastian Ofner 6-3, 6-4. Additional winners included Germany’s Daniel Altmaier, Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili, Bulgarian wild card Grigor Dimitrov, Argentina’s Lautaro Midon, Paraguay’s Adolfo Daniel Vallejo, and Italians Andrea Pellegrino and Stefano Travaglia.
At the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag in Croatia, France’s Titouan Droguet put together a dominant finish, winning 11 of the last 12 games to defeat No. 5 seed Alexander Blockx of Belgium 3-6, 6-2, 6-0. Argentina’s No. 7 seed Camilo Ugo Carabelli avoided a similar collapse, rallying from a break down in the second set to outlast German qualifier Marko Topo 6-7 (2), 7-6 (3), 6-3. Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta and Daniel Merida, Argentina’s Roman Andres Burruchaga and Federico Agustin Gomez, Slovakia’s Alex Molcan, and Bolivia’s Juan Carlos Prado Angelo also advanced.
