Stan Wawrinka, world number four, defeated João Sousa, with an "s" and ranked 46th, to reach the second round of Wimbledon.

These two have met twice before. Once last year at Wimbledon in the first round, similarly to this year, and another at the Mutua Madrid Open earlier this season. Wawrinka won both matches but the last one was very tight, with the Swiss prevailing 7-6(1) 7-5 so today the crowd was expecting a great match to finish the Centre Court session of the first day of The Championships. Sousa was looking for his second top ten win after fifteen losses while the French Open champion was looking for a great start on the grass of the All England Club.

The first set of the match was all Wawrinka as he started off aggresively and Sousa couldn't handle it. With the Swiss relying on his serve and power, he conquered the first set 6-2. As the match went on, the Swiss started to hit a ton of unforced errors but still was not afraid to go for winners. With this strategy, he won a tight second set 7-5. The Portuguese was not going to back down and picked up his level in the third. Both were very aggressive on service games holding them with ease. This is what led them to a third set tiebreak that the "Stanimal" (as he is known by his fans) won. The match ended 6-2, 7-5, 7-6(3), with the victory for the French Open champion.

In the match Wawrinka fired 25 aces and only allowed João to hit one ace. Both had a high percentage of first serve points won, with Sousa winning 72 percent of his first serve points and the Swiss 86 percent. At the net they were consistent as we can see by looking at the match stats. Their points won at the net were above 60 percent. Sousa hit 11 winners and committed 24 unforced errors, in this match, while last year's Wimbledon quarterfinalist ended with 45 winners and 30 unforced errors. If you were wondering, Sousa covered just over seven meters per point compared to Stan who just covered just under seven meters per point.

The world number four is now going up Victor Estrella Burgos while Sousa will now play in Umag, Croatia.

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Pedro Cunha
I am from Portugal. I discovered tennis when I was nine years old and since then that I´m in love with this sport. The smell of the balls and the orange dust, of the clay where I practice, on my shorts and sneakers make my life better.