Stanislas Wawrinka danced with danger on the edge of elimination before high-stepping past Nikolay Davydenko today in Indian Wells.
The 12th-seeded Swiss fought back from a one-set, one break deficit in defeating Davydenko, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in a two hour, 40-minute match that ebbed and flowed with some spectacular shotmaking and shaky nerves. Wawrinka will play 17th-seeded Marin Cilic for a spot in the fourth round and a possible shot at Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych.
It was a match of missed opportunities for a disappointed Davydenko, who was up a break twice in the second set and served for the match at 5-4, only to succumb to nerves in a skittish game that saw him surrender serve at 15. The 42nd-ranked Russian regained early control in taking a 2-0 tiebreak lead, but then missed a relatively routine forehand. That slight slip revealed cracks in concentration that widened into a chasm when Davydenko dumped a double-fault halfway up the net to fall behind 3-4 in the breaker. Wawrinka would go on to take the 58-minute second set with an ace, leveling the match.
It was nearly a year ago today that Davydenko was forced to withdraw from Indian Wells prior to his third-round match with a fractured left wrist; it would sideline him for three months. Injury-induced inactivity saw Davydenko's streak of five straight season-ending Top 10 finishes come to an end last year. Though he started this season beating Rafael Nadal to reach the Doha final, Davydenko had won just two of his last six matches prior to his second career clash with Wawrinka.
Working with Peter Lundgren, who coached both Roger Federer and Marat Safin to Grand Slam titles, Wawrinka has played some of his most confident tennis in recent months, reaching successive major quarterfinals at the U.S. Open and Australian Open and winning his third career title in Chennai. He's also playing much more authoritative tennis in tiebreaks.
When he's playing well, Davydenko camps out on top of the baseline and uses his quickness and clean strokes to redirect opponent's drives, whereas Wawrinka prefers to play deeper behind the baseline to give himself more time to generate his full, fluid swings. Davydenko's ability to take the ball earlier—and his willingness to attack Wawrinka's forehand wing—helped him recover from an early break to stay on serve after eight games of the decisive set.
That's when Wawrinka began to find his range. Wawrinka whipped an inside-out forehand winner, benefited from a Davydenko backhand error, then blasted a backhand winner up the line for triple break point. A searing backhand return from Wawrinka forced an errant forehand as he broke at love for 5-4. Davydenko earned a break point when Wawrinka served for the match, but failed to put a backhand return in play. He dropped his racquet to the court in disgust and Wawrinka finished him off with his signature shot, a backhand down the line.
If Wawrinka can continue to exhibit the grit and gutsy shot-making he showed at crunch time today—and make use of the fine volley skills he exhibits in doubles (he won his first-rounder with Roger Federer)—he may make inroads into the singles draw as well. Wawrinka has won four of six meetings with Cilic, but the towering Croatian has won their last two matches, both staged on hard court.
—Richard Pagliaro