Stan Wawrinka met Holger Rune in the third round of the 2023 Indian Wells and it was an interesting match because of many reasons.
The last time the two met, the experienced Swiss player advised his younger opponent to 'stop acting like a baby on the court' when the two shook hands after the match. His advice came after their match but also after the young Dane got into a verbal exchange with umpire Mohamed Layhani the day before.
Their meeting in Indian Wells was only their second and their first since the exchange. Rune saw a familiar face on the court, as Mohamed Layhani overlooked also this match which was played in Indian Wells.
Since the start, everything went better for the 37-year-old. He caused a lot of harm on his opponent's serve while he held his service games with ease. His domination in the first set included also a 14-point winning streak, as Rune had no answers to Wawrinka's questions.
After only 31 minutes, Wawrinka won the first set 6-2, while hitting 9 winners and making only one unforced error. On the other hand, Rune couldn't stop missing, ending the first set with 13 unforced errors to his name.
The second set was much closer than the first one. Both players had plenty of break points but the crucial moment came after the seventh game. Rune asked for a medical time-out as he wasn't feeling 100% fit and immediately after it, he was broken to love.
However, the three-time Grand Slam champion couldn't serve out the match despite having a match point, as Rune broke back. The second set eventually reached a tie-break as Rune performed another Houdini act to come back from 2-5 down with Wawrinka having two balls in his hand.
In the third set, both players were very good on their serve in the first eight games, but then Rune started struggling. In the ninth game, he faced a break point but he saved that.
Yet, he couldn't do the same thing two games later as almost an hour later, Wawrinka was serving for the match again. This time, the experienced Swiss player didn't miss to win the match 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-5 and advance at the 2023 Indian Wells.
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