Wawrinka halts Djokovic’s Dream Run

Number 8th Seed Stanislas Wawrinka romped home to his second grand slam title today after beating World Number Novak Djokovic 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 at Roland Garros finals today. We bring you some of the important factors of the match between the two players today

1. Djokovic had the edge

It was their 21st meeting with Novak leading their H2H 17-3. They had met four times in majors in the last two years, with each one of them being a nail-biting encounter. Stan was looking to repeat his 2014 Aus Open triumph over the Serb. Though it was Djokovic’s match to lose.

2. Lucky 11? 

A lot of fuss was about the fact that it was Djokovic’s 11th RG. Andre Agassi and Roger Federer, both were crowned the champion of Paris in their 11th attempt. So will Djokovic do the same? Interestingly his Swiss opponent was also playing his eleventh RG! So one of them was definitely going to follow Federer.

3. SuperNole’s Defense v Stanimal’s Power

It Wawrinka had any chance of winning this one, he had to do it by playing attacking game, going after the second serves and using his gigantic backhand. He began well, outpowering Novak but the Serb kept on retrieving the balls. The errors were bound to creep in and Stan lost his fourth service game to love, after shanking couple of his backhands long. Djokovic’s defense was getting better of Wawrinka, who was forced to do a bit extra in order to beat Novak’s court coverage. But a break was all it took the world number one to wrap up the set 6-4.

4. The Swiss’ incredible comeback

A spirited Wawrinka kept on hitting forehand winners to trouble Djokovic. The games were constantly going to deuce points and Novak finally crumbled while serving to stay in the set. Stan won it 6-4. There was no stopping the Swiss as he muscled Novak in the sixth game to lead 4-2 in the third set and went on to take the set 6-3. If Djokovic had to complete his career slam, he’d now have to do it the hard way; win it in 5.

5. One set to rule them all!

What followed was one of the best sets of this years at Roland Garros. Some insanely genius tennis from both sides of the court. Novak led 3-0 comfortably but Stan came back to make it 3 all. The Paris crowd was cheering the eighth seed as if he was a local favorite. Wawrinka’s backhand did most of the damage. In the 9th game that lethal weapon broke Djokovic yet again and Wawrinka was now serving for Championship.

6. CHAMPION RG’15

And it was over with another crisp backhand down the line. 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-4, Wawrinka had overcome the most difficult man on the tour to win this one. Djokovic was in tears, moved by the applause he got. He’ll be back next year to finish off the job and hold that Musketeers’ Cup. For now, let’s just thank these two for treating us with an incredible final.