Wawrinka wins Dubai Tennis Open against Baghdatis
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E-mail Xinhua, February 28, 2016
Swiss tennis ace and world's number four Stanislaw Wawrinka won Saturday the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 6-4, 7-6 (15-13) after one hour and 54 minutes against the world's number 57 Marcos Baghdatis from Cyprus.
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Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland holds his trophy after winning the ATP Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships February 27, 2016. Stanislas Wawrinka won 2-0 and claimed the title. (Xinhua/Li Zhen) |
The Swiss needed four match points in the tie break in the second set to bring victory home.
The players, who share the same height (1.83 meters) the same age (30 years), both playing right-handed, started at almost the same level and dared some spectacular shots, but the Cypriot did more unforced errors than the world's number four.
However, Baghdatis had more support from the audience in the not completely sold-out Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium at the Aviation Club. "Marcos! Marcos!" many were shouting while the few Swiss fans were rarely audible.
His first break at stand 3-2 was quickly re-broken by "Stan the Man" as the Swiss is nicknamed who showed more precision and endurance in standard situations.
Both elite players appeared to be exhausted, the Greek Cypriot in particular as he needed three sets against Spaniard Feliciano Lopez to win Friday's second semifinal.
Followed by Argentine football legend Diegoo Maradona from the tribune of honour, the match remained on a medium level with rare breathtaking shots.
It was also a fair encounter when at the start of the second set, Lausanne-born Wawrinka smashed a high ball volley and hit the Cypriot in his stomach, the Swiss immediately apologized under loud applause of the audience. The two opponents almost mutually avoided direct attacks at the net and relied on their baseline shots.
The second set was almost a photocopy of the first round and the two headed into the inevitable tie-break.
"Stan the Man" , dressed in his favorite funky red-orange combination, cashed in 511,750 U.S. dollars prize money and fireworks enlightened the sky above the stadium.
"It was a tough match and I am really happy to win this year's Dubai Championships. Marcos played a great game, and I thank everybody who came here," said Wawrinka.
"I played on a high level and hop to keep this level throughout the year," added Wawrinka who will head home to Switzerland before playing the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, next month.
Runner-up Baghdatis who received 240,340 U.S. dollars said "it was great to play here in Dubai, I love coming here every year." 8 The 24th edition of the ATP Dubai Open will be remembered as the tournament where top seed Roger Federer pulled out ahead of the challenge due to knee injury and where the world's number one Novak Djokovic retired for the first time since 2011 in the semifinals due to an eye infection.
The doubles final was won by Italy's Simone Bolelli and Andreas Seppi who defeated Spain's Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez 6-2, 3-6, 14-12.
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