WHAT HAPPENED: In the first hard-court meeting between the 2016 US Open champion Stan Wawrinka and No. 30 seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina, Wawrinka prevailed, 7-6(8), 6-7(9), 6-3, 6-2, on a breezy, sunny, day-turned-dusk on Court 17.
Both players were determined to squeeze every ounce of possibility out of every point. At the end of the first two sets alone (each of which went to tiebreaks), the match was 2 hours, 17 minutes old. By then, Etcheverry had won 88 points to Wawrinka’s 89.
Since they had split the first two sets, the match was essentially just beginning.
Wawrinka won the third set, 6-3, by breaking Etcheverry’s serve in the sixth game to pull ahead 4-2 and subsequently held serve twice more.
Wawrinka opened the fourth set by breaking Etcheverry’s serve in the first game. At the changeover, the crowd in the packed stands chanted, “Let’s go, Sta-an!” leaving no secret whom they favored. At 38, Wawrinka was already the oldest man to win a US Open singles match since Jimmy Connors in 1992 after his first-round victory on Tuesday.
Wawrinka broke Etcheverry, 24, again in the seventh game for a commanding 5-2 lead and the right to serve out the set (if he could hold). It took three match points—but he finally did: with an ace.
Afterwards, Wawrinka said, “It was a big battle against a great player. It was quite windy today. It was a different feeling with the ball. It wasn’t easy to play the way we were fighting, fighting hard. And I'm really happy to get through that one, especially after losing the second set after more than two hours with having set point. It was important to really stay with him. So I'm happy the way I pushed myself to finish the match.
“I'm old, of course, but I feel good.”
WHAT IT MEANS: Wawrinka is the oldest man in the US Open third round since 39-year-old Connors in 1991. He is now 2-0 against Etcheverry, whom he also beat on grass earlier this year in four sets at Wimbledon.
Wawrinka will next meet the Italian No. 6 Jannik Sinner in Round 3. Sinner has won their last three (of five) meetings. Wawrinka and Sinner also faced each other at the 2019 US Open, when Wawrinka beat him in four sets in the Round of 128.
Wawrinka said Sinner is “a really tough player to play. He kicked my ass twice this year already. Of course, I'm playing much better now, [but] he's in full confidence. He won his first Masters 1000 a few weeks ago. It's going to be a really big challenge. I will have to play my best tennis to have a chance.”
This is Wawrinka’s 16th US Open, dating back to 2005.
MATCH POINT: Wawrinka is one of six US Opens men’s singles champions in the draw. Wawrinka (2016) and three-time winner Novak Djokovic are now safely into the third round. Carlos Alcaraz (2022) and Daniil Medvedev (2021) have Thursday night matches. But Andy Murray (2012) lost earlier Thursday, and Dominic Thiem (2020) retired in his second-round match.
