Rafael Nadal was defeated Sunday in the Australian Open's final by Stanislas Wawrinka. Not only was Wawrinka playing in his first Australian Open final, but in 12 previous matches against Nadal, he had not managed to win even one of 26 combined sets - until Sunday.
Wawrinka held off an injured Rafael Nadal to win his first Grand Slam title with a 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory.
The
28-year-old Swiss player had never taken a set off Nadal in 12 previous
meetings, but attacked from the start at Melbourne Park against the
13-time major winner. Nadal
appeared to be on the verge of retiring in the second set, when he hurt
his back and needed a medical time out, but recovered slowly after
getting treatment to push it to four sets.
Nadal
was a hot favorite to win the title at Melbourne Park and become the
first man to win each of the four Grand Slam tournaments twice in the
Open era - instead, his injury curse struck again in Australia.
"Rafa,
I'm really sorry for you, I hope your back is going to be fine, you're a
really great guy, good friend and really amazing champion," Wawrinka
said as he accepted his first major trophy. "Last year I had a crazy
match, I lost it. I was crying a lot after the match. But in one year a
lot happened - I still don't know if I'm dreaming or not but we'll see
tomorrow morning."
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