Former French Open champion Stan Wawrinka came up with the goods in his opening round against qualifier Jozef Kovalik on Tuesday. The world No 3 won in straight sets 6-2, 7-6(6), 6-3 and will next face Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov in the second round.
Wawrinka, who arrived in Paris after a triumphant campaign in Geneva last week, carried forward his commanding form and his momentum against the Slovakian. His powerful and stinging shots found their mark one after another and he opened a wider gap between him and his opponent by securing a double break in the first set, which saw him take the lead in the match after serving out the set in the eighth game.
Kovalik, however, stormed back into the match capitalising on the Swiss’ brief distraction in the early part of the set to go up 2-0. The lead didn’t last long though and the set, progressing on serve as it did, proceeded onto the tie-break.
The tie-break was a gritty affair, with both players tussling well up to the 14th point – even as Kovalik secured three set points for himself, back-to-back. In a display of the mettle that has had made him so threatening in the Majors, Wawrinka came up with a worthy fightback to win the tie-break, and take a two set lead in the match.
The final set swung the thrust of the match decisively in Wawrinka’s favour, who never let his guard slip, before eventually pocketing the win in the ninth game, three minutes short of the two-hour mark.
Wawrinka hit 38 winners to Kovalik’s 23, and had 33 unforced errors to his opponent’s 28, finishing the match with a total of 106 points, 22 points more than what Kovalik scored throughout.
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