Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka upset injury-troubled world number one Rafael Nadal to win his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open on Sunday. The eighth seed roared through the first two sets and overcame the distraction of a back injury to Nadal, and then the loss of the third set, to take it 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.
And he is the first man outside the ‘big four’ of Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray to win a Grand Slam since Juan Martin Del Potro at the 2009 US Open. Wawrinka has cemented his elite status with this major victory.
Before the men’s final on Jan. 26, Wawrinka was 0-12 against Nadal and had lost all 26 sets. Not only was this the first Grand Slam victory of Wawrinka’s career, but this was also his first appearance in the final of a major tournament in his career, topping his previous best of reaching the semifinals in the 2013 U.S. Open.
Fortunes fluctuated wildly over the course of two hours and 21 minutes as Wawrinka opened in scintillating form before a tearful Nadal appeared close to quitting at two sets down, only to stage a remarkable recovery in the third. The Spaniard, 27, showed great spirit to hit back once again from a break down in the fourth, but a forehand winner gave Wawrinka the decisive break at 5-3 and he served out the biggest win of his life with a love game.
The 28-year-old becomes only the second Swiss man to win a Grand Slam singles title after 17-time champion Roger Federer which hopefully will be the first of many more grand slams to come in future.
