Stan Wawrinka keeps rolling back the years at the Croatia Open in Umag, beating Federico Coria in two simple sets.
The Swiss veteran played in Umag almost two decades ago, and it was actually the first trophy he ever won in his carer. It happened back in 2006 when Novak Djokovic, of all people, retired in the final. 17 years later, Wawrinka is back in the quarter-final with a pretty strong performance against a noted clay player.
He was quite impressive in the first-round match to set up this clash and then outlasted Coria in a very competitive opening set which proved crucial. The Argentinian couldn't really keep up in the second set as the Swiss veteran cruised.
We've seen some good tennis from Wawrinka lately with the doubles trophy in Gstaad being followed up by a quarter-final in Umag. The match itself was a competitive one, especially in the opening set. Wawrinka was up early 3-0 but then lost that advantage only to break once more. He lost it once more but then broke for a 3rd time and this time around it proved enough.
Coria did most of his damage on the second serve of Wawrinka and he had plenty of chances to do so because the Swiss player didn't serve that well hitting his first serve only 48 % of the time. After he survived that and took the opening set, things fell into place for Wawrinka.
Coria helped him as he didn't play that well himself which allowed the Swiss veteran to cruise to a 6-1 conclusion even if he didn't serve that well in the second set as well. Coria didn't see a single break point in the second set as the final score was 7-5 6-1 for Wawrinka.
The veteran will face Roberto Carballes Baena in the quarter-final.
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