A ticket for the Marin Cilic-Stanislas Wawrinka third-rounder was clearly sought after by the cognoscenti: Three games into the match I looked over to my left and saw the Rockhampton Rocket, Rod Laver, casting his expert eye over the proceedings.
Wawrinka got off to a fast start, breaking Cilic in his first service game and nursing his advantage to 5-3. Then, unexpectedly, Cilic rallied, but he faltered when serving to get into a tiebreak. When Cilic dumped a ball into the net on set point, he hurled his racket to the DecoTurf in disgust. Chair umpire Mohammed Layhani chose to overlook it.
Three games later, after another ball found the net, Cilic had had enough, sending the errant ball soaring out of the stadium. Layhani murmered a soft "code violation, ball abuse, Mr. Cilic" in the tone of a university professor gently chiding a graduate student.
Cilic, who lost 7-5, 6-3, has the air of an earnest law student about him, possibly from long contact with Mario Ancic. It was the first time I'd seen him play in person since 2008, in Toronto. Cilic seems to do everything quite well, and nothing very well. He's a tall man, but few of his first serves break 120 mph. If he played a surprising shot all afternoon, I missed it. Being solid can earn you a spot in the Top 20, but you need one or more real weapons to hold down a place in the Top 10.
Wawrinka has two such weapons, a much bigger first serve and a first-class, one-handed, down-the-line backhand. He won several quality points with the latter shot, but he also coaxed a break out of Cilic with a series of low, cross-court backhand slices. Wawrinka has Peter Lundgren in his box now, and throughout the match he was exhorting his man on, just loud enough for his voice to carry—"C'mon Stan, allez, allez Stan, good shot."—There wasn't a hint of coaching, unless you extend the definition to include positive reinforcement.
Lundgren has coached some high quality talent in the past: Maybe Laver's presence was a signal that at least one experienced judge reckons he's got another good one on his hands.
—Andrew Burton