Wawrinka Begins Australian Open Title Defense With Win

Last year, Stan Wawrinka announced himself to the tennis world by going all the way in Melbourne to capture the first Grand Slam title of his career. He kicked off his defense of that title on Tuesday as the Swiss cruised past Turkey’s Marsel Ilhan 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 to advance into the second-round.

“The first Grand Slam is never easy, but I’m happy with the way I played today,” said Wawrinka. “I played some good tennis, and I have confidence with my game in general. I can feel that I have a lot of support here and it’s always nice to come like that and to feel the crowd behind you.”

Wawrinka is without a doubt a crowd favorite in Australia following his win down under in 2014. He got things started on Tuesday with a convincing first set that saw him win half of the points on Ilhan’s serve. Despite hitting more unforced errors than winners, Wawrinka was able to notch two break points to roll 6-1 in the opening frame.

The Swiss’ serve then picked up in the second, converting 88 percent of his first serves into points. In addition, he won six of nine points at the net as he displayed some aggressiveness to edge out the second set 6-4. In the third, he fired five aces and won a couple of more break points to finish out the opening-round match in one hour and 29 minutes.

He moves on and will play Romania’s Marius Copil in the second-round. Copil ousted Spain’s Pablo Andujar with a 6-2, 6-2, 7-5 straight set victory.

On the bottom half of Wawrinka’s section, fifth-seeded Kei Nishikori knocked off Spain’s Nicolas Almagro 6-4, 7-6(1), 6-2.

Nishikori notched six break points and was as efficient as usual, committing just 25 unforced errors throughout the match compared to Almagro’s 50.

“He could be a seeded player,” said Nishikori of his first-round opponent. “I know he was injured, but still it was a tough match. It was a little bit windy, so we both didn’t play maybe 100 percent. But I was getting more balls and I played much better in the third set.”

Up next for the fifth-ranked Nishikori is Ivan Dodig. The Croat managed to push through to the second-round with a 6-4, 7-5, 6-4, straight set victory over Brazil’s Joao Souza.

David Ferrer dropped the opening set of his opening-round match before storming back for a 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-0, 6-3 win over Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci.

The ninth-seeded Spaniard will take on Sergiy Stakhovsky after the Ukrainian outlasted Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-4.

American Steve Johnson made quick work of Great Britain’s Kyle Edmund in his Melbourne opener. Johnson rolled past Edmund, who was making his Grand Slam debut, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.

Johnson’s compatriot Sam Querrey was one set away from moving on into the second-round before Canadian Vasek Pospisil rallied back for a 6-3, 6-7(5), 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 win. Pospisil did not even give Querrey a break point opportunity in the final two sets as he hung on for a three-plus hour victory.

Pospisil will next play Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi who upset 21st seeded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.

Colombia’s Alejandro Gonzalez upended 16th seeded Italian Fabio Fognini 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 to move on. He will play Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the second-round; Garcia-Lopez advanced after Peter Gojowczyk retired down two sets to one.

Click here for all the results from Day 2 at the Australian Open.