Dzumhur dethrones Stan
Dubai, Feb. 28: Holder Stan Wawrinka was sensationally dumped out of the Dubai Tennis Championships on Tuesday as his form collapsed following an early 4-1 lead.
The Swiss three-time Grand Slam winner was beaten 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 in the first round by outsider Damir Dzumhur.
Wawrinka was playing for the first time since suffering a right knee injury at the Australian Open a month ago, where he reached his eighth major semi-final before falling to Roger Federer.
And following defeat by the 77th-ranked journeyman from Bosnia-Herzegovina, he admitted that his fitness was lacking after only a week of practice.
“I started well but it was tough because I was missing a little bit something. In practice it was starting to be OK the last few days, but today I was missing something.”
Dzumhur made the most of his Dubai debut to advance into a match with Marcel Granollers of Spain. The loss was the third from 10 matches this season for Wawrinka.
After taking an early lead, Wawrinka found his game slipping. By the time he got the the firstset tiebreak, he was playing catch-up.
The second seed was broken twice for 5-1 in the second set before a brief rally in which he broke back once.
Despite his exit, Wawrinka said that his knee was giving him no pain, a positive sign heading into back-to-back Masters 1000 events starting next week in Indian Wells and Miami.
“I need to focus on myself. I need to practise more, to get in (a) better level to expect to do some good results,” Wawrinka said.
“I’m quite unhappy to lose first round. It’s tough, because I played well last year here. I was happy to be back. I was happy to be back on the ATP Tour after a month.
“I was excited and I wanted to do better this week. But the result is not there, but I think in general it’s positive for my tennis.”
Elsewhere in the first round, Evgeny Donskoy beat fellow Russian Acapulco, Mexico: Novak Djokovic said on Monday he is ready to atone for his shock Australian Open exit as he prepares to return to action in Acapulco.
The 29-year-old world number two makes his bow in the tournament on Tuesday, his first match since tumbling out in Melbourne last month in the second round against Uzbekistand’s Denis Istomin.
The Australian Open defeat was the nadir of a Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 6-4 to set up a match with Federer.
Spain’s Fernando Verdasco defeated Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-2, 7-5.
Earlier, Federer showed few signs of rust after a month off following his Australian Open heroics in sending Benoit Paire challenging dip in form for the Serbian former world number one, who has won only two titles since July last year.
Djokovic, who is making his debut in Acapulco, said he feels in a healthier frame of mind since his travails of recent months.
“All in all, I feel that I’m in a much better state of mind than maybe I was at the end of last year. So I keep on going,” Djokovic said.
Djokovic, who plays Slovakia’s Martin Klizan packing on Monday.
Federer, chasing a record eighth title at the Dubai showpiece, outclassed the tetchy Frenchman 6-1, 6-3 in what was his first match since winning an 18th Grand Slam in January in Melbourne against Rafael Nadal. in the first round, admitted going out in Melbourne so early had come as a shock.
“I haven’t experienced the first-week Australian Open loss for many years,” said Djokovic.
In early round action on Monday, American eighth seed John Isner was upset by compatriot Steve Johnson, going down in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. Fifth seed David Goffin had no such difficulty however, breezing past France’s Stephane Robert 6-1, 6-2.