Stanislas Wawrinka

Stanislas Wawrinka continued his remarkable year with a first Masters 1000 title in Monte-Carlo, coming from a set down to beat Roger Federer, 4-6 7-6(5) 6-2.  This was a pretty significant win because Wawrinka had only beaten Federer once before in 14 previous clashes.  Oddly, that also came in Monte-Carlo.  I only saw the third set where Wawrinka was just brilliant from the back of the court as he peppered the Federer backhand.  General impressions seem to suggest it wasn’t a great match in terms of quality.  I’m still eager to watch back the first two sets.

Wawrinka will maintain has world number three ranking and looks to be a legitimate threat going into the rest of the clay court season.  The ATP tour is all set for a really interesting next few months.  As Rafael Nadal continues to not produce his best tennis, there is a welcome uncertainty building towards Roland Garros, which is exciting! All in all, I felt Monte-Carlo was a little anticlimactic.  There were some big match-ups, but apart from glimpses of quality here and there, it didn’t quite deliver.  It’s always a brilliant stop on the tour and I am hoping as the players get more accustomed to the clay, we are going to see some great matches.  Madrid kicks off in two weeks…

In yesterday’s final poll, 33% of Moo’s Tennis Blog readers correctly went for Wawrinka to beat Federer.  Nice work…