Dubai: Stan Wawrinka, the new Dubai champion and the second Swiss to win here after Roger Federer, can see himself progressing further as a player as the 2016 tennis season wears on.
Wawrinka held off former world number eight Marcos Baghdatis in an exciting final 6-4, 7-6 (13) to become only the 12th player to win the men’s singles at the Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open on Saturday. Two men and both world number ones – Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic – have dominated in Dubai in the 24-year history of this event.
Federer has an amazing seven titles while Djokovic was chasing a fifth crown this week when the Serbian pulled out with an eye infection in the middle of his quarter-final against Feliciano Lopez. A win here would have landed the Serb in to the history books of tennis as he would have continued his amazing winning streak to 18 tournaments.
His withdrawal handed Wawrinka the opportunity of creating his own bit of history as the two-time Grand Slam champion from Switzerland maintained his winning streak in singles to nine finals. The second-seeded player from Switzerland has not lost a title match since the 2013 Hertogenbosch final, when he lost to Nicolas Mahut in an hour and 54 minutes. His 13th career trophy was also his second ATP World Tour title of the year, following his third straight crown in Chennai where he defeated Borna Coric in January.
“As long as I’m fit and playing well, I’m going to play. So far it’s been an amazing year. I’m playing my best tennis since a few years now, so hopefully I can keep the level and keep playing well this year,” Wawrinka said.
Wawrinka’s win was all the more significant because he had travelled to Dubai all alone, not even with his coach Magnus Norman. “Yeah, sometimes I like it [travelling alone]. For me, at the end of the day, I need to be focused on the tennis court. I don’t need to and I never had a really big team around me. I don’t have five, six, seven people. I have my coach and sometimes I have some friends along,” the 30-year-old said.
“It was a good week in general. I know what I have to do to be ready for matches. I know what I have to do in matches. So sometimes it’s good to travel alone,” he insisted.
Wawrinka heads back home for a few days’ break and then takes off to Indian Wells for the BNP Paribas Open starting on March 10. “I also know that the more matches I win in the same week, the more confidence I get. I know that’s normally when I get to some finals and play my best tennis. So far it’s been some great nine finals but I don’t think about it. I just try to go on court, try to get the trophy because at the end that’s what I want,” Wawrinka added.
