Wawrinka Beats Federer For First Masters 1000 Crown

In the first all-Swiss final for 14 years on the ATP World Tour, Stanislas Wawrinka defeated Roger Federer 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2 in the final of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.

The 29-year-old Wawrinka captured his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title, having previously finished runner-up in Rome 2008 (l. to Djokovic) and Madrid last year (l. to Nadal). With his semi-final victory over David Ferrer Saturday, the Swiss became the 11th active player to record 100 ATP Masters 1000 match wins.

Wawrinka is the 59th different winner of an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament, breaking up the domination of the ‘Big Four’. In 34 of the past 36 Masters 1000 tournaments, the trophy had been lifted by one of either Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Federer or Andy Murray. The only exceptions came at the BNP Paribas Masters in 2010 (Robin Soderling) and 2012 (Ferrer).

“It’s always special to play Roger,” said Wawrinka. “We know it’s always a strange match, especially being in the final here. He’s my best friend on the tour. We respect each other so much. I’m just trying on the court to win the match. Before and after, we are still very good friends. During the match, we just try everything to win. Today I’m really happy to take that one.
“I can see that when mentally I’m there and I’m fighting, I can play tennis, I can beat all the player. I did an amazing job. I’m really happy after winning my first Grand Slam to win a Masters 1000 so quick. I didn’t expect to. When I came here, for me it was more like a test. I knew I was playing good tennis, but I didn’t expect to win because the draw was so strong.”

Read: How The Final Was Won

It was just Wawrinka’s second win in 15 meetings with Federer (2-13 FedEx ATP Head2Head series). His other victory over Federer also came at the Monte-Carlo Country Club, five years ago.

“Of course, I’m very happy for Stan,” said Federer. “It’s a huge win for him after winning his first Grand Slam this year, also to win his first Masters 1000. To take the opportunities when they’re there, that’s key in a tennis player’s career. So I’m very happy for him.”

As victor, Wawrinka received 1000 Emirates ATP Ranking points and $549,000 in prize money. He was presented with the trophy by His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco and Princess Charlene of Monaco.
Victory for Wawrinka sees the Lausanne native maintain his grip on World No. 3 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. On Monday, he will leapfrog Nadal, Djokovic and Federer to rise to No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Race To London, which is based solely on results this season.
The top eight in the Emirates ATP Race To London at the end of the regular season will qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Wawrinka qualified for the elite season finale for the first time last year, reaching the semi-finals (l. to Djokovic).
Wawrinka becomes the first player this season to win three tour-level titles, adding to victories in Chennai (d. Roger-Vasselin) and at the Australian Open, where he defeated Nadal to win his first Grand Slam championship.

The 32-year-old Federer was looking to win the elusive Monte-Carlo trophy for the first time after finishing runner-up to Nadal three times from 2006-’08. The Swiss has won 21 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles, with his last triumph coming in August 2012 in Cincinnati.

“I think it’s one of the those finals that I could have won,” said Federer. “But Stan was tougher at the end. I think he deserved it just a little bit more. Clearly it would have been nice to win that second set tie-break. I didn’t necessarily play a bad one, but also at the same time I didn’t quite ever get into the lead where things went my way.

“I would have loved to have won a second title [this season] because I’ve come close a few times. That’s my next objective, that I get to the very end more frequently. But clearly I’m happy that the clay court season started so well for me.

La Suisse a souffert pour s’imposer malgré son rôle de grande favorite de la rencontre, mais elle a fini par l’emporter 3-2 face au Kazakhstan. Après cette victoire obtenue de haute lutte, dirigeants et joueurs helvétiques sont venus s’exprimer face aux médias afin de dire leur fierté et leur joie d’avoir accompli leur tâche. Ils se sont naturellement aussi follement réjouis de pouvoir accueillir à nouveau à domicile leur prochain adversaire en Coupe Davis, à savoir l’Italie du 12 au 14 septembre prochain.

Le premier à parler a été René Stammbach, président de Swiss Tennis. Accompagné de Jonas Maag, organisateur de l’événement, il a tenu à remercier les médias de leur soutien durant toute la semaine et surtout dit son émotion: “Avec ce public, cette ambiance et cette rencontre gagnée aussi difficilement, c’est le moment le plus fort que j’ai vécu depuis 28 ans que je m’occupe de la Coupe Davis.”

Ne sachant que depuis très peu de temps que la Suisse était qualifiée pour accueillir l’Italie en demi-finale en septembre, René Stammbach n’a pas pu donner de détails sur le bénéficie financier réalisé par la fédération à l’occasion de cette rencontre face au Kazakhstan et il n’a pas non plus été plus précis sur le futur lieu de déroulement du match contre les Italiens: “Nous avons pré-réservé Palexpo, où nous pourrions accueillir encore un tout petit peu plus de spectateurs, mais nous allons étudier toutes les candidatures, et ce sont surtout le capitaine et les joueurs qui ont leur mot à dire sur ce choix.”

Severin Lüthi a précisément succédé au président de la fédération avec ses protégés Federer et Wawrinka mais le capitaine helvétique n’a pas voulu en dire plus: “Nous n’en avons pas encore discuté.” Cela a été l’occasion pour les trois protagonistes de plaisanter un peu avec la presse, l’ambiance étant de toute évidence très détendue. Federer a même interrogé en souriant celui qui est son coach sur le circuit: “Mais où est-ce que tu jouerais toi si tu étais joueur?”.

On a demandé également aux protagonistes comment ils avaient géré cette situation d’être menés 1-2 après le double alors qu’ils étaient grands favoris, et Roger Federer a répondu que c’est en toute sérénité qu’ils sont parvenus à s’en sortir: “Il fallait avant tout rester calmes et nous avons réussi à le faire.” Il est certain aussi que le fait d’avoir renversé la vapeur dans ces circonstances va servir à l’avenir l’équipe de Suisse, désormais certaine qu’elle peut assumer les situations les plus difficiles.

Stanislas Wawrinka et Roger Federer ont ensuite évoqué la formidable ambiance qui a régné à Palexpo durant les trois jours de compétition: “On ne peut que dire un tout grand merci aux spectateurs.” Ils ont précisé que ce sont eux qui avaient désiré avoir de la musique aux pauses, interventions qui ont été supprimées à la demande des supporters le dimanche. “On ne voulait pas que les fans se fatiguent trop la voix les deux premiers jours. Ils ont tout donné le dernier et c’était super”, a dit ainsi en riant Federer à ce sujet. De façon unanime, ils ont reconnu avoir vécu ce week-end à Genève leurs plus fortes émotions en Coupe Davis. “Avec le match de barrage remporté en Australie il y a deux ans”, a ajouté Wawrinka. “Avec la rencontre jouée à Lausanne contre la Belgique juste après notre médaille d’or olympique en double à Pékin en 2008″, a ajouté Federer. “Mais il y avait moins de suspense!”, a conclu Wawrinka.

Pour finir, Roger Federer a exprimé son souhait que toute l’équipe reste en bonne santé jusqu’en septembre afin que la Suisse ait les meilleures chances d’atteindre la finale de la Coupe Davis, un événement qu’il n’a jamais encore eu l’occasion de vivre au cours de sa prestigieuse carrière.

Roger Federer won his sixth title at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Saturday when he defeated Tomas Berdych 3-6 6-4 6-3.

It was a tense battle from beginning to end, with Federer having to rally from a set and break down to overcome one of the most consistent players this season. Berdych was on an 11-match winning streak, the best of his career, and he was chasing his second title of the season after recently winning in Rotterdam.

It was Federer’s first title since he won Halle in June 2013, earned during a season in which he was hampered by back problems. Now fully fit again, Federer was able to withstand a strong challenge from Berdych, finally closing out the match on his third match point.

Berdych claimed an early break to lead 2-1, and although Federer levelled in the next game he was broken again to fall behind 4-2. Federer found himself deeper in trouble when he was broken again at 2-2 in the second set, but he responded by once again breaking back immediately and then broke again for the set.

In a tense finale Federer won the only break of the third set to lead 3-1, but then had to fight off two break points to hold for 5-2.

“It’s like one of those things you just kind of hope it turns for the better,” said Federer of being down in the second set. “At that point you’re just telling yourself to serve well, give yourself maybe a few good opening points on Tomas’ serve, and then you hope the points play out the way they need to be played out at that very moment, because it’s basically in his hands. If he serves well, it’s difficult, or the margins are extremely slim at that point.

“So once you do get back, it’s important to not then relax and think, oh, the hardest part is done, it’s only about the beginning actually. So I was happy I was able to use momentum, win that second set, and then it was a tough opening in the third, you know, wasting the Love- 40 game on Tomas’ first service game. Then saving breakpoints myself. I mean, anything could have happened there.”

Berdych aditted that he had not made the most of his opportunity.

“I had really many chances, and then I basically just gave him the game and, you know, that’s it,” he said. So really, I mean, it’s very disappointing for me the way I handled that situation. I was in the better shape and playing really well and made my chances, but, you know, unfortunately I didn’t execute it until the end.”