2011 BNP Paribas Open – Marin Cilic vs. Stanislas Wawrinka Preview
Croatian tennis player Marin Cilic cleared his second round match against Florent Serra of France at the 2011 BNP Paribas Open to set up a third round confrontation against Swiss tennis player Stanislas Wawrinka, who ousted pro
Nikolay Davydenko on his side of the draw. Both players received byes in the first round of the event.
The third-round match is expected to be an interesting one, as both players are seeded at the tournament this year. Cilic is currently ranked World Number 20 by the Association of Tennis Professionals, while Wawrinka is a few spots
higher as World Number 14. 22-year-old Cilic is also the younger and therefore more inexperienced player, having joined the ATP in 2005. Wawrinka, on the other hand, is 25 years old and has been playing as a professional for almost ten years.
The two players have played against each other six times in the past, with Wawrinka winning four of their matches. Their first meeting was in 2006, when the two pros met at the round of the last 16 in the Umag event in Croatia.
Despite Cilic’s advantage of a home crowd, Wawrinka managed to win the match in three sets.
Their next meeting was in Vienna in 2006, when they met in the round of the last 32. Wawrinka improved his record against the Croatian player to 2-0 here, winning their second match in straight sets. He went on to confront Cilic
again on the clay courts of Stuttgart in 2007, where they met in the round of the last 16. Wawrinka won the match with an identical scoreline to his last victory, defeating Cilic with a fry for the second time in a row.
The first Grand Slam in which the two players encountered each other was the 2008 French Open, where they met in the round of the last 64. Stanislas Wawrinka had some difficulty in the first two sets, fighting both to tie-breakers
before winning. However, he sealed a win in straight sets with his third fry over the Croatian layer.
However, Wawrinka was unable to score any more victories over his opponent. Their next match was at the 2010 Chennai Open, where Cilic scored his first win over the Swiss pro to win the title for the ATP event. This seemed to have
boosted his confidence, and he scored another victory over Wawrinka in the first Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open. He won their match in the round of the last 32.
Although these recent victories may seem indicative of a win for Cilic, the fact remains that they took place over a year ago. He may be able to repeat these results, though; his opening match at the tournament was only two sets
long, whereas Wawrinka was pushed to the limit with a third tie-breaking set. Exhaustion will probably play a role in his performance during the match.
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