Stan Wawrinka won his ninth straight final with a 6-4, 7-6 (15/13) defeat of Marcos Baghdatis to clinch the Dubai ATP title on Saturday after a “crazy tiebreaker”.
Stan Wawrinka won his ninth straight final with a 6-4, 7-6 (15/13) defeat of Marcos Baghdatis to clinch the Dubai ATP title on Saturday after a “crazy tiebreaker”.
The French Open champion from Switzerland claimed the 13th title of his career and second of the season after Chennai, improving to 13-2 in 2016.
The match lasted for almost two hours, with Wawrinka leading 4-1 in the tiebreaker but forced to go the distance as he saved five set points before winning when a Baghdatis return went wide on a fourth match point.
“Until 6-all in the tiebreak I was always up with a mini-break. I did I think two double faults and two or three, three quick mistakes,” the winner said.
“Then it started to be all about nerves — 6-6, 7-7, 10-10. You try to stay there, try to play simple, aggressive. It and was good to finish it in two sets.”
The 30-year-old came to the emirate as second seed having not played the tournament in eight years and without a match win until getting through the first round.
“It’s an amazing end of week, for sure. It was a tough beginning, but I was always trying to fight, always trying to improve day by day even if I wasn’t playing great at the beginning. I’m really happy to have another trophy. It’s an amazing feeling, I was playing some really good tennis,” Wawrinka said.
