Croatia Open: Wawrinka reaches remaining with win over Sonego

4 months ago 2 min read

Umag (Croatia), July 30 – Stan Wawrinka produced a commanding efficiency to beat Lorenzo Sonego 6-3, 6-4 on the Croatia Open to advance to his first ATP Tour remaining since he reached two in 2019, right here.

By to his thirty first tour-level remaining (16-14), and his 14th on clay (7-6), Wawrinka is in search of his first title since he received Geneva in 2017.

The Swiss will meet Alexei Popyrin within the title match. Sunday’s remaining might be Wawrinka’s first since he underwent two left-foot surgical procedures in 2021 and fell out of the High 300 of the ATP Rankings.

“I’m pleased with the match. I feel I performed rather well, the most effective match of the week,” stated Wawrinka, who has moved up 23 locations to No. 49 within the ATP Rankings behind his 4 straight-set wins this week.

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“I’m actually joyful to be within the remaining tomorrow,” he added.

On Saturday, Wawrinka confirmed his full vary within the victory, pairing highly effective baseline blasts with deft contact. He saved the lone break level as he served out the opening set and escaped 0/30 to serve out the match after one hour, 26 minutes.

However, Sonego was denied his sixth ATP Tour remaining and what would have been his first since final 12 months in Metz.

Wawrinka’s opponent within the summit conflict — Popyrin — overcame Matteo Arnaldi 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-3 to achieve his second ATP Tour remaining.

Popyrin, who lifted an ATP 250 trophy in Singapore in 2021, stored Arnaldi beneath fixed strain on return within the pair’s maiden ATP Head to Head sequence. He transformed 4 of 19 breakpoints en path to a hard-earned three-hour, 16-minute triumph in opposition to the seventh-seeded Italian on the Croatian clay.

Popyrin has impressed on clay already in 2023. He reached the fourth spherical as a qualifier in Could in Rome, the place he defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime earlier than pushing eventual finalist Holger Rune to a few units.

The Australian has risen 17 spots to No. 73 within the ATP Reside Rankings because of his Umag run to this point.