Wawrinka Makes Case For Title Defence

Defending Roland Garros champion Stan Wawrinka is finding his best form as he bids for another title in Paris. The No. 3 seed convincingly moved past No. 30 seed Jeremy Chardy in their third-round match on Friday, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5.

With the win, Wawrinka increased his winning streak on clay to seven matches. He prevailed in last week’s ATP World Tour event in Geneva.

“Everything that I did today was pretty high-level,” said Wawrinka. “I hit the ball well. I was moving around well. I managed to do what I wanted.”

Wawrinka dropped serve to start the match, but it was one of the few lapses in form he had all afternoon. The Swiss star immediately broke back in the next game and clinched the set with another break of serve at 5-4.

In the second set, the defending champion took his game to another level. Hitting 14 winners to seven errors, he earned an early break of serve to lead 3-1 and eventually fired an ace on set point to take a commanding two-sets lead.

Wawrinka once again grabbed an early break to lead 3-1 in the third set. It appeared the match would be wrapped up with Wawrinka serving at 5-4, but the Frenchman brought the crowd to their feet with inspired returning to level the match. The No. 3 seed responded by breaking Chardy in the next game and comfortably serving out the match on his second try.

Wawrinka will next play No. 22 seed Viktor Troicki of Serbia, who enjoyed a convincing win over No. 16 seed Gilles Simon of France, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2. Wawrinka leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Troicki 4-0.

“The last time I played him on clay was a three-hour match in Belgrade [in 2010],” said Wawrinka. “He’s a player who plays well. He plays his own [style] of tennis.”