2011 BNP Paribas Open - ATP Seeds Part XII: Stanislas Wawrinka
At World Number 14, Stanislas “the Manislas” Wawrinka is just a few steps away from breaking into the Association of Tennis Professionals Top Ten players once again. The Swiss tennis pro is the second-highest ranked pro on the
circuit, after tennis legend Roger Federer at World Number 2. The player is coached by Federer’s old mentor, Peter Lundgren.
Wawrinka turned pro in 2002, and has been part of the ATP Tour for almost ten years. He is a right-handed player who plays his best game on clay courts. The player is also renowned for having an immensely powerful backhand, with
tennis great John McEnroe advocating it as “the best one-handed backhand in the game today”.
His last tournament was the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, where he made it to quarterfinals after defeating Pablo Andujar of Spain and Fabio Fognini of Italy. He was ousted by Alexandr Dolgopolov. However, he also managed to make it
to the semi-finals at Buenos Aires, as well as the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. He took the title for his first tournament of the year in Chennai
The player, who will turn 26 this month, has competed at the Indian Wells Masters on three occasions before this. He made his debut on the hard court of California in 2006, when he was ranked World Number 58. His first opponent
was Canadian-turned-Briton Greg Rusedski, who was ranked World Number 46 at that time. Wawrinka upset the player in straight sets, but could not make it past the second round after being defeated by Olivier Rochus.
Wawrinka skipped the tournament in 2007, and made his next appearance two years after his debut. His 2008 run was quite impressive; the player was ranked World Number 35 that year, and began his campaign as an unseeded player against
then-World Number 163 Jesse Levine. He scored a three-sets win over the American pro, and went on to upset then-World Number 10 Tomas Berdych from a set down. After this, he took Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis down to proceed to the fourth round. Here, he scored
a win over Korean pro Hyung-Taik Lee. The Swiss player’s run ended at the quarterfinals of the event, where he was defeated by World Number 3 Novak Djokovic in straight sets.
In 2009, Wawrinka competed at Indian Wells as a seeded player for the first time. He received a bye in the first round, and managed to defeat Andreas Seppi and Sam Querrey in the second and third round respectively. Djokovic ended
his campaign in the fourth round, once again thwarting Wawrinka’s progress.
Wawrinka did not participate in 2010, but is seeded twelfth at the 2011 BNP Paribas Open. He will be facing Russian former top ten player Nikolay Davydenko in his first match at the event, after Davydenko ousted Fabio Fognini in
three sets in the first round.
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