Umag [Croatia], July 30 : Stan Wawrinka used a commanding performance at the Croatia Open to advance to his first ATP Tour final since he reached two in 2019.
The Swiss defeated Italy's Lorenzo Sonego 6-3, 6-4 behind a single break in each set to advance to the title match, where he will meet Alexei Popyrin.
Sunday's final will be Wawrinka's first since he underwent two left-foot surgeries in 2021 and fell out of the Top 300 of the ATP Rankings.
"I'm happy with the match. I think I played really well, the best match of the week. I'm really happy to be in the final tomorrow," Wawrinka was quoted as saying by ATP.
In the win, Wawrinka displayed his complete skill set by combining strong baseline bombs with nimble touch. After serving out the second set for an hour and 26 minutes, he saved the lone break point and escaped 0/30 to serve out the match.
Sonego was denied his sixth ATP Tour championship and his first since the Metz finals in 2017.
After defeating Matteo Arnaldi 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-3 to advance to his second ATP Tour final, Popyrin will play Wawrinka next.
In their first ATP Head2Head series, Popyrin, who won an ATP 250 trophy in Singapore in 2021, applied persistent pressure to Arnaldi's comeback. On the Croatian clay, he defeated the seventh-seeded Italian after a gruelling three hours and sixteen minutes of play. He converted four of his 19 breakpoints.
Clay has already been imprinted by Popyrin in 2023. He beat Felix Auger-Aliassime in the fourth round of the qualifying tournament in Rome in May before challenging eventual champion Holger Rune to three sets. Due to his success in Umag thus far, the Australian has climbed 17 ranks to No. 73 in the ATP Live Rankings.
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