Wawrinka overcomes slow start to defeat Evans in St. Petersburg Open round 1

Stan Wawrinka overcame a slow start and saved 3 match points in an effort that saw him battle back against Dan Evans in St. Petersburg.

Stan Wawrinka returned to the courts on Monday in St. Petersburg in a bid to win a title which has eluded him for a long time. It wasn't pretty at all as he needed over two hours to defeat Evans 3-6 7-6(3) 7-5.  

The start of the match wasn't very good for Wawrinka who struggled after the initial service game. He got broken in the 3rd game of the match by Evans who took a 3-1 lead. Evans continued to hold that lead throughout the 1st set ending it with 6-3 after breaking Wawrinka once more. The key difference between Wawrinka and Evans was serving which Evans did better. Wawrinka was abysmal on his 2nd serve winning only 2/8 points.

The second set was calm on in the sense that there wasn't much excitement in it. Each player played better tennis especially when serving not allowing the other player much. Wawrinka had a few issues in one game but resolved them quickly. Evans had similar issues a few games later but once again he held his serve. Wawrinka had break point chance in the 9th game but Evans saved it taking a 5-4 lead. Wawrinka came back to make it 5-5 but Evans once against served well and took a 6-5 lead.

At 6-5 Evans played three great points to give himself three consecutive match points but Wawrinka saved all of them bravely and forcing a tiebreak. In it, he completely took over winning it 7-3 forcing a decider set. At the start of the final set, we saw the players trade early breaks. Wawrinka continued playing well taking a 4-1 lead but Evans ultimately fought back into the match. Ultimately it was Wawrinka who prevailed winning the last set with 7-5.