"I did an amazing job." The words of Stanislas Wawrinka, a deserved winner of the first clay court Masters 1000 event of the year in Monte Carlo. After a comfortable run to the final, without dropping a set, a maiden Masters 1000 victory looked unlikely for Wawrinka, but he came back to beat the great Roger Federer, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2. 

The biggest shock of the tournament happened in the quarter final. Rafael Nadal, 8 time winner and undisputed 'King of clay' was defeated by fellow countryman David Ferrer in straight sets. Nadal hasn't looked the same since losing to Wawrinka in the Australian Open final, and wasn't at his best, making 44 unforced errors across the two sets. Rafa acknowledged that he wasn't at his best. "All losses feel bad, but especially on clay. I'm not playing well."

Building up to the final, Wawrinka and Federer had comfortable semi final wins over David Ferrer and Novak Djokovic respectively. Djokovic struggled with a wrist injury all week. "The good thing is I don't need to have a surgery," he said. "I don't have any rupture or something like that." 

Both players struggled to impose themselves in the 1st set, always looking comfortable on serve, but Federer found the break and served it out, taking it 6-4. The pair exchanged breaks in the 2nd set, and Wawrinka edged a close tiebreak. The 3rd set was simply fantastic. Wawrinka broke in the 1st and 3rd games of the set, whilst not giving much away on serve, to seal a deserved victory.

Wawrinka is now top of the Race to London rankings, judged on 2014 only. Can he maintain his superb form? Only time will tell. 

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About the author
Harry Cairns
Tennis writer.