Stan Wawrinka gets better of Benoit Paire
Rotterdam, Feb. 12: Stan Wawrinka benefitted from a Benoit Paire collapse, with the Swiss carving out a 7- 6( 7/ 4), 6- 1 win on Monday at the Rotterdam Open.
On Tuesday, Milos Raonic and Denis Shapovalov scored a firstround double for Canada with both powering ahead in straight sets. Raonic, the fourth seed who reached the quarter- finals here in 2015, fought past German Philipp Kohlschreiber 7- 6 ( 10/ 8), 75 on the back of 21 aces.
Shapovalov, seeded 10th, defeated Croatian Franko Skugor 7- 5, 6- 3.
After fighting through a 45- minute first set the 33year- old Wawrinka needed just 26 more minutes to salt away the first- round victory as the moody Paire had unleashed a trademark racquet smash after dropping the opening set. The frustrated 58th- ranked Frenchman made little effort in the second set, phoning it in with apparent disinterest as Wawrinka took complete charge.
Breaking four times on his way into the second round Wawrinka made a date against either Milos Raonic, who beat him in four tiebreak sets at the Australian Open, or German Philipp Kohlschreiber.
“It’s tough to play a friend whose game you know so well,” Wawrinka said of Paire,
“I didn’t start well, but I lifted my level and got better and better.
“I’m happy to win this match It’s tough to play Paire but I was able to regain my focus. I fought hard to find my rhythm.” Wawrinka said that his knee is no longer a problem. “In general I’m training well and moving well. “I had a good level in Melbourne against Raonic over almost four hours.
“The knee is good, I’m happy physically and have confidence in it.” The number 68 Swiss who claimed the title in Europe’s major port city in 2015, has been working for more than a year to rehab completely following two knee surgeries in summer, 2017. Victory over his French opponent leaves him with a 9- 3 record in the series. The field is headed by Asia’s top player, Kei Nishikori of Japan, who opens in his tournament debut on Tuesday against Montpellier finalist Pierre- Hugues Herbert of France.