Stifled Stan bows to king of clay

PARIS — Until Sunday, Stan Wawrinka had an unblemished record in Grand Slam finals — but then he had never faced Rafa Nadal in a final in the Spaniard’s favorite arena at the French Open.

The Swiss, who beat Nadal in the 2014 Australian Open final, was dismantled 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 on Sunday as Nadal won his 10th Roland Garros title.

“He’s playing the best he’s ever played,” the third-seeded Wawrinka said of Nadal in his post-match news conference.

“He’s the best ever on clay. It’s always a tough challenge.”

Wawrinka, the French Open champion in 2015 when Nadal lost to Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals, said the Spaniard lived up to his expectations on Sunday.

“It was the Rafa I was expecting. We saw how he has been playing since the beginning of the season — fit, aggressive, his level has been incredible,” said Wawrinka, who lost to Nadal on the same court in the last eight in 2013.

The 32-year-old Wawrinka hadonlyonebreakpoint,early on, and then never threatened.

The Swiss blamed himself for being too hesitant.

“When you hesitate on how toplayaball,yourlegsmovelater and it’s too late,” said Wawrinka,whoisthereigningUSOpen champion.

“You have to be able to play without thinking. If you hesitateforhalfasecond,it’salready too late.

“If you’re not completely free ... you don’t want him to take the lead and play even more freely.

“At the end of the day it was three sets, nothing to say. I can talk about the game, about what I did, about what he did, but at the end of the day it’s quite clear.”

Wawrinka, however, took positives from the tournament following the disappointment after a first-round loss in Madrid and a second-round defeat in Monte Carlo.

He entered the final on an 11-match winning streak following his title triumph in Geneva.

“It was an amazing tournament. Today I lost the final but three weeks ago I was feeling down, I had doubts about my game,” said Wawrinka.

“Then I won Geneva and I reached the final of a Grand Slam. That’s big for me, but I will need a few days to really see that.”

PASCAL ROSSIGNOL / REUTERS Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka breaks his racket in frustration during his straight-sets loss to Rafael Nadal of Spain in Sunday’s French Open final at Roland Garros, Paris.