With one break per set—first at 3-all in the first set, then a surprise love break in the second-to-last game of the match at 4-all in the second set—Stan Wawrinka took out Casper Ruud, 6-4, 6-4, in the first round of the ATP 500 event in Basel today.
“This is one of the big reasons why I keep on playing,” Wawrinka said afterwards. “I’m getting older, that’s for sure. I had to fight a lot the last two years with the injuries, surgery, and coming back was not easy. I was struggling to get back in shape, physically and tennis-wise. So to be able to produce that tonight, here in Switzerland, is of course something really special.
“Hopefully I can keep playing well.”
Wawrinka’s win over the No. 3-ranked Ruud was his second Top 10 win of the year, having taken out a No. 4-ranked Daniil Medvedev in Metz five weeks ago.
It was his first win over a Top 3 player since defeating a No. 1-ranked Novak Djokovic in the fourth round of the 2019 US Open. That was by retirement, though—so this was his biggest win by ranking in a completed match since defeating then-No. 1 Andy Murray in the semifinals of Roland Garros in 2017.
And bigger picture, it was the 60th Top 10 win of Wawrinka’s career—he’s the fourth active man to record 60 Top 10 wins, and the 16th man in the Open Era to do it.
MOST CAREER TOP 10 WINS (men, Open Era, active players in bold):
234: Novak Djokovic
224: Roger Federer
185: Rafael Nadal
166: Ivan Lendl
128: John McEnroe
127: Jimmy Connors
124: Pete Sampras
121: Boris Becker
113: Bjorn Borg
109: Andre Agassi
105: Andy Murray
98: Stefan Edberg
65: Lleyton Hewitt
62: Mats Wilander
60: Stan Wawrinka, Goran Ivanisevic