Stan Wawrinka pushed his way into the third round of this year's French Open with a 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 victory over Dušan Lajovic in one of Wednesday's early morning match-up's. The World number eight had to work for the victory though, showing flashes of brilliance but also hints of inconsistent shots, especially towards the end of the game, as the clock continued to tick down with a nervous crowd watching on.
He asserted his dominance in the first two sets on Court Two, but the unseeded 24-year-old did well to get back into the match, albeit the hard way with a 7-5 game victory to make it two sets to one. It was in the fourth set, where Wawrinka started to falter though. He continously over-hit returns, including a few wild one's, as Lajovic was able to put a foot through the door and frustrate the Swiss international. A moment of brilliance could have easily ended the match, as Lajovic's powerful serve was returned with a precisely struck swatted effort which saw the ball narrowly bounce inside the line. Stan smurked as he himself was proud of the shot, as were the crowd who were cheering that instance of magic.
It was not all fun and games for Wawrinka though, as he had a double match point, only to see it vanish within minutes. First, an overzealous volley was out, then, an attempted power return was wasted as the ball flashed out too. The points were there to be won, and despite the crowd cheering him on, there was a sense that he felt he'd already won the match itself. He got himself back to the level he had been playing at after a few moments of frustration and disappointment, echoed by the cheering audience, who knew the World no.8 was better than some of the shots he was producing. He eventually wrapped up his place in the third round of the tournament with an excellently-weighted strike with his backhand, stretching to reach Lajovic's return, with the Serbian having no answer.
| Stan Wawrinka | Dušan Lajovic |
| Winners: 53 | Winners: 36 |
| Unforced errors: 52 | Unforced errors: 44 |
| Service points won: 78 | Service points won: 70 |
| Return games won: 8 | Return games won: 5 |
| Total points: 141 | Total points: 123 |
| Total aces: 11 | Total aces: 3 |
| Double faults: 9 | Double faults: 1 |
Stan will be relieved to have got that match out of the way, after a frustrating end to the encounter. Lajovic was decent at times, but his inexperience against the big guns showed as he was not fully able to take advantage of his opponent's bad spells, and use the momentum to his advantage.