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Swiss Stan Wawrinka beat Spanish sixth seed Roberto Karballes Baena 6-1, 3-1, and the latter was forced to retire in the first round of the Swiss Open in Gstaad last Tuesday (July 18). The match lasted just over an hour, as the 30-year-old Spaniard succumbed to injury after dominating the entire length of the match.
Wawrinka will face Spain’s Jaume Munar in the second round on Thursday (July 20). The 38-year-old Swiss may find it difficult to take on a much younger opponent, but he will have his chances on home soil nonetheless. He would also be relatively new to the match, as he didn’t have to play long in the first round.
On that note, let’s look at two things that stood out in Wawrinka’s first-round match:
#1 Wawrinka’s forehand dominated the roost:
Wawrinka dominated from the baseline with a clinical forehand for the most part. He hit several winners with a few forehands, as the slower surface gave him enough opportunity to prepare for shots. Carballes Baena was overpowered and knocked out by his much older opponent throughout the match.
Meanwhile, Wawrinka retreated from the past years with a strong performance that would give him great confidence in his next match. Carballes Baena broke twice in the first set to race through and move up once in the match.
#2. Karballes-Pina’s weak serve was detected:
Karballes Baena couldn’t serve well enough in the match and Wawrinka was served again and again. The Swiss put a lot of pressure on the Spaniard’s second serve, converting each of the three break points that came his way.
Wawrinka Karballes broke Baena again in the second set and then held on to lead at 3-1. At that point the Spaniard decided to retire. Karballes Baena could only win 62% and 27% of points on his first and second serves, respectively, in the bout, a really poor performance.
By comparison, Wawrinka won 94% of points on his first serve and 69% on his second to pull off a dominant performance. The Swiss doesn’t quite have age on his side, but he could give Munnar a run for his money in his next game. At this point in his career, he’ll definitely want to go deep into the tournament.
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