Indian Wells: Three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka made a triumphant return to Indian Wells, rallying for 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-3 victory over British qualifier Daniel Evans to reach the second round.
It was a rematch of Wawrinka’s four-hour, five-set victory over Evans in the third round of the 2016 US Open — where the Swiss would go on to claim his third Grand Slam crown.
“He’s always a tough player to play, for sure,” Wawrinka said. “He’s mixing a lot, especially on conditions like today when it’s windy.”
“With his slice, he feels the ball really well. He’s mixing his game, serve and volley, sometimes coming, sometimes not, passing well,” he added. “So I’m happy to get through a match like today.”
While top seeds led by world No.1 Novak Djokovic enjoyed first-round byes, 40th-ranked Wawrinka gutted out a two-hour, eight-minute clash with 100th ranked Evans.
Wawrinka saved all six break points he faced in the deciding set, battling back from 0-40 down in the fifth game and pushing to a 5-3 lead.
He held at love to line up a second-round meeting with 29th-seeded Hungarian Marton Fucsovics.
“I think for me this year it’s for sure special because I’m happy to be back,” said Wawrinka, whose run to the final in Rotterdam last month was his first final since Roland Garros in June of 2017.
He hasn’t lifted a trophy since Geneva in May of 2017, but says his Rotterdam run put his comeback in a new phase.
“It helped me a lot to put away a little bit of pressure of knowing that you play well but (are) not winning too many matches,” Wawrinka said.
AFP