MELBOURNE: The 40-year-old Stan Wawrinka said a heroic final farewell to the Australian Open on Saturday as he bowed out of Melbourne in the third round in a battling loss to Taylor Fritz.
Brutal heat triggered a five-hour suspension of matches on outside courts at the Australian Open on Saturday.
Advertisement
Players and spectators roasted on day seven at Melbourne Park, where temperatures soared to 38C.
The tournament’s Heat Stress Scale hit the highest level of five in the early afternoon, prompting the suspension on courts without roofs and play did not resume until after 7pm.
Fritz, the ninth seed from the United States sent the wildcard and popular former champion from Switzerland spinning out 7-6 (7/5), 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Wawrinka, who made his debut at Melbourne Park in 2006 and won the major in 2014, is playing his last season before retiring.
Fritz faces the fifth seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy in the last 16.
There was nothing between Wawrinka and Fritz in the first set and they went to a tiebreak, where they exchanged a series of thunderous forehands.
With the roof closed at John Cain Arena because of the heat, the 28-year-old Fritz edged through in the first-set tie break.
Wawrinka became the first player aged 40 or over to reach the men’s third round at a Slam since Ken Rosewall at the Australian Open in 1978.
He was exhausted afterwards and joked he might have a beer to celebrate. But if Fritz was hoping there would be a hangover, he was to be disappointed.
Wawrinka, now ranked 139, peaked at world number three in 2014, winning the French Open a year later and the US Open in 2016.
The triumphs all came at a time when Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic were dominating men’s tennis.
Wawrinka has 16 career ATP titles although the last came in Geneva in 2017. He won Olympic gold in doubles alongside Federer at Beijing in 2008.
Swiatek, the second seed from Poland, survived a roller coaster to beat 31st Russian seed Anna Kalinskaya 6-1, 1-6, 6-1. And will face Australian qualifier Maddison Inglis
Reigning champion Sinner admitted he was saved by the roof in his meeting with the American Eliot Spizzirri at Rod Laver Arena.
Play was stopped for about 10 minutes because of the baking heat, allowing time for the roof to close.
Jannik Sinner had been suffering from cramp in the fierce sun.
But with the roof shut he pulled through 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 over a gruelling 3hr 45min.
“I struggled physically a bit today as you saw. I got lucky with the heat rule, they closed the roof,” said the second seed.
His reward is a clash next with fellow Italian Luciano Darderi, the 22nd seed who defeated Russia’s Karen Khachanov in four sets.
On a historic day for Italy, fifth seed Lorenzo Musetti saw off Tomas Machac in five sets.
It was the first time that three Italian men had reached the last 16 of the Australian Open.
Musetti goes up against American ninth seed Taylor Fritz after he ended the run of Stan Wawrinka on the popular Swiss veteran’s farewell to the tournament in four sets.
The 40-year-old former champion is playing his last season.
Earlier, women’s defending champion Madison Keys revelled in the scorching temperatures to set up a last-16 showdown with podcast co-host Jessica Pegula.
Matches started an hour earlier than usual because of the heatwave, and Keys had no intention of hanging about.
She dismissed former world number one Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-3 in a statement victory.
After admitting to being nervous and timid in embarking on her title defence, this was more like the Keys that stunned Aryna Sabalenka in the final a year ago.
The 30-year-old Keys said that being based in Florida meant she was used to hot temperatures.
The ninth seed faces good friend and compatriot Pegula for a place in the quarter-finals.
The sixth-seeded Pegula powered past unseeded Russian Oksana Selekhmeteva 6-3, 6-2.
Pegula and Keys know each other well, even hosting a tennis podcast together.
Another title contender, Amanda Anisimova, made light work of fellow American Peyton Stearns 6-1, 6-4.
