Medvedev stuns Wawrinka on Wimbledon debut

It’s been quite a day for Daniil Medvedev. Not only did he break into the world’s Top 50, but he made his Wimbledon debut and did so on Centre Court. Oh, and he picked up his first Grand Slam victory with a four set win against the world No.3 Stan Wawrinka, coming through 6-4 3-6 6-4 6-1.

With an outside shot of completing the career Grand Slam, Wawrinka had added Paul Annacone to his team ahead of the grass court season. However, the fifth seed looked far from comfortable on Centre Court in the opening set.

Taking the decisive break early, his 6ft 6inch opponent swung freely in front of the packed crowd. Wawrinka struggled to handle the Russian’s serve, and Medvedev was off to the perfect start.

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If the first set was about the Russian, the second was about Wawrinka. The Swiss maestro broke at the first attempt, racing away to a 3-0 lead. Despite calling the trainer, Wawrinka was settling into his role as favourite and soon levelled the match.

With the momentum in his favour, everything pointed to Wawrinka easing into the second round. However, Medvedev dug deep and withstood some exquisite shotmaking from the Swiss star. Wawrinka was forced to call the trainer a second time, but with the set seemingly heading for a tiebreak the Russian conjured up a break from nothing and took it 6-4.

Going into the fourth and the crowd were willing Wawrinka to dig deep. However, after the Swiss missed an early look at a break the set quickly ran away from him. Medvedev broke to lead 3-1, before Wawrinka capitulated and the set ran away from him. Despite a slight wobble while serving for the match, the Russian thundered down a series of enormous serves to wrap up a famous win.

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“I don’t know what to say, I’m just really happy. It’s my first Grand Slam win, the Centre Court of Wimbledon. If somebody would tell me that I would win on Centre Court at Wimbledon I would say ‘you’re joking’.

“I have had a great grass court season and I knew that Stan had some problems – he played only one match on grass. And I knew that I would have some chances if I played good.”