Wawrinka, Cilic Make Perfect Start to Grass-Court Season

Swiss star, Stanislas Wawrinka won his opening match at the Queen’s Club Championships, with a 6-2, 6-3 straight sets victory over Cameron Norrie. The ATP event acts as a warm-up tournament for the Wimbledon. It was his first win at the event since 2015.

It took him just 56 minutes to decimate Norrie, who had only two professional wins on grass surfaces. Wawrinka sent down 13 aces and never faced a break point during the match, giving his opponent no chance at clawing back into the game.

Norrie didn’t help his case either, with only 48% of his first serves legitimate and lost 44% of his initial shots. He saved five break points off his serve, but Wawrinka sent down a forehand winner to lead 3-1 in the first set. It took him only 27 minutes to win it eventually.

The second set pretty much followed the same script as the first. Wawrinka moved to a 4-1 lead and looked set to win it earlier than the first, but Norrie somehow made it 5-3. But the next game was all Wawrinka needed to seal the win.

Meanwhile, world no.6, Marin Cilic faced a tougher challenge from Fernando Verdasco but ultimately prevailed 6-3, 6-4 in a little over an hour. Verdasco had got the better of Dimitrov at the French Open but the grass court proved to be a step too far for him.

Cilic, a 2012 Oueen’s champion, never broke a sweat as he broke his opponent once in each set. Verdasco’s second serve was abysmal as he faced five break points at different junctures. He did save one but then squandered 3 game points, handing the penultimate game to Cilic.

The Croatian hit a smash to win the opening set 6-3. He broke Verdasco in the third game of the second set and that was all the advantage he needed as he saw out his service games and controlled the match to progress to the second round.