While most players were already hitting on the Parisian dust, Wawrinka was beating Marin Cilic back home in Switzerland for his first claycourt title since stunning Novak Djokovic a year ago at Roland Garros.
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After winning hard-court events in Chennai and Dubai earlier this year, Wawrinka’s dip in form was clearly evident in the lead up to the French Open, which gets under way on Sunday.
French Open champion Stan Wawrinka defeated Lukas Rosol 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 on Friday to reach the final of the Geneva Open – just days before they meet in the first round at Roland Garros.
Top-seeded Stan Wawrinka cruised past Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain 6-1, 6-1 in the Geneva Open second round on Tuesday. I think to beat him, it’s going to be very hard, and then there is [Andy] Murray and [Rafa] Nadal on an equal footing, and then I’m just after them. I know that. But I’ll have to try to keep my focus to get started. It was rather odd match, with both players miles from their best tennis, with no less than 10 breaks in total.
Wawrinka is hopeful that his late arrival for the second grand slam of the year will not pose a problem.
“I hope it’s not going to bother me for tomorrow”. I prepared with my fitness trainer and I practised a little.
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Wawrinka will play another Spaniard in the quarterfinals, 43rd-ranked Pablo Carreno Busta who beat compatriot Inigo Cervantes 6-2, 6-4. “He really ramped up the pressure toward the end, with those set points, so it was nice to be able to finish off the match”.
