Wawrinka stuns Djokovic to claim French Open title
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STAN Wawrinka won the French Open by beating No. 1-seeded Novak Djokovic 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in the final yesterday, thwarting Djokovic’s bid to complete a career grand slam.
The eighth-seeded Wawrinka, so long in the shadow of his Swiss Davis Cup teammate and pal, Roger Federer, collected his second major title after last year’s Australian Open.
In doing so, Wawrinka put a stop to Djokovic’s 28-match winning streak and left the 28-year-old Serb ruing another close call at Roland Garros. This was the third time in the last four years that Djokovic lost in the final at the claycourt tournament, the only major title he has never won.
Wawrinka earned 1.8 million euros (US$2 million).
The 30-year-old Wawrinka became the oldest champion in Paris since Ecuador’s Andres Gomez in 1990 after just his fourth win in 21 meetings against the Serb.
The defeat was only Djokovic’s third in 44 outings in 2015.
Earlier, with a little help from a friend, Lucie Safarova finally got her hands on a trophy at the French Open.
A day after losing to Serena Williams in the final, the lefthanded Czech teamed up with American Bethanie Mattek-Sands to clinch the doubles title with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 win against Casey Dellacqua and Yaroslava Shvedova yesterday.
Safarova put her disappointment aside and played a decisive role in the third game of the deciding set, when she fired two aces on break points. Mattek-Sands and Safarova did not lose a single game after that.
“I was a little bit sad, but it was exciting for me to be here in the final,” Safarova said. “I was very pumped to at least get one title out of those two. I’m really happy it happened.”
After Safarova served out the match, the winning pair fell into each other’s arms and jumped up and down to celebrate their second grand slam triumph after the Australian Open.
Mattek-Sands kissed Safarova several times on the cheek before they warmly congratulated their opponents at the net.
Both Safarova and Mattek-Sands, who only began playing together this year, said one of the reasons the chemistry between them developed so quickly is their excellent relationship off the court.
“It makes a big difference,” Mattek-Sands said. “I’m really grateful I have a great friend like Lucie to hang out and talk with. As much as we joke around, we can be serious. It’s really nice to have a friend like that.”
Safarova and Mattek-Sands became only the seventh women’s pair in the Open era to win both the Australian Open and Roland Garros the same year. And for Mattek-Sands, it was a second trophy in Paris this week after she took the mixed doubles title with Mike Bryan.
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