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 semifinal 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 first-set 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 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.
Smooth start
for Federer
On Monday, Federer showed few signs of rust after a month off following his Australian Open heroics in sending Benoit Paire packing.
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.
The timeless Swiss, who had been unsure of his form and fitness following the layoff and a leg injury, is yet to lift an eighth title at any event having achieved seven in Dubai, Wimbledon, Basel, Cincinnati and at Halle.
“I’m happy with how I played, I was able to stay aggressive,” the 35-year-old said. “I couldn’t have had a better first-round start.
“There were some break points to be saved and I returned very well for a first round.
“The serve in the beginning was a bit off maybe, but I think also playing at night here for the first time it’s always just a different ball when you toss it up with the lights, so that’s going to get better as I progress in the tournament.”
Federer, who has a training base in the UAE, defeated Paire for the fourth time without a loss with the Frenchman jeered for tossing a racquet in the second set as he was crashing to defeat. Paire also had his ankle strapped trailing 4-1 in the opening set and then lost serve as Federer took a 5-1 lead. The Swiss wrapped up the first set after less than 30 minutes with a service winner. The second set was equally one way as Federer went through in well under an hour before attending an ATP presentation on court to honour the 500-level Dubai event’s quarter century.
“I missed playing here last year (knee surgery). I’ve played here for so many years, seen the tournament grow,” said Federer, who is competing in the event for the 13th time.
“Especially after Australia, fans and myself know how special it is for me to be back on the court. It was a nice welcome.”
Fourth seed Gael Monfils returned to Dubai for the first time since 2008 and advanced over Egyptian wildcard Mohamed Safwat, the number 199, 6-4, 6-3. Spanish sixth seed Roberto Bautista Agut beat Russian hope Karen Khachanov 6-1, 7-6 (7/4) while 2014 semifinalist Philipp Kohlschreiber moved to within two victories of his 400th career win after he defeated eighth seed Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 6-4, 7-6 (7/1)
“To achieve my record would be great,” the 33-year-old German said. “It would put me in the semi-finals.
“But I still have a few years to play on the tour so I’m pretty confident that I’m going to make 400-plus, hopefully.”
Spain’s Marcel Granollers put out Czech Jiri Vesely 6-3, 6-2 while Guillermo Garcia-Lopez defeated Serb Viktor Troicki 6-4, 6-3. — AFP
Dubai Tennis Championships results
First round: Damir Dzumhur (BIH) bt Stan Wawrinka (SUI x2) 7-6 (7/4), 6-3; Evgeny Donskoy (RUS) bt Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) 6-4, 6-4; Fernando Verdasco (ESP) bt Andreas Seppi (ITA) 6-2, 7-5;
On Monday: Gael Monfils (FRA x4) bt Mohamed Safwat (EGY) 6-4, 6-3; Roger Federer (SUI x3) bt Benoit Paire (FRA) 6-1, 6-3; Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) bt Gilles Muller (LUX x8) 6-4, 7-6 (7/1); Marcel Granollers (ESP) bt Jiri Vesely (CZE) 6-3, 6-2; Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) bt Viktor Troicki (SRB) 6-4, 6-3; Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) bt Karen Khachanov (RUS) 6-1,
7-6 (7/4)
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