Australian Open fifth fatal set Italian Seppi. "I play another 3-4 weeks, then the baby is born"

Andreas Seppi comes out in the second round against Stan Wawrinka not without regrets. A break was ahead in the final set. "I stop because the baby is born and I have to do hip infiltrations"

After Fognini's two big wins, this time the fifth set was not Italy's friend, despite Andreas Seppi has always been known as a great "best of 5" player (this was his forty-first game in the fifth set, of of which 14 only at the Australian Open). The match was not an exciting one, in part because both Seppi and Wawrinka have a rather similar game style, in part because they both made a lot of mistakes (57 free for Seppi, 65 for Wawrinka). Of course, Andreas is very sorry for the two great chances he had and not exploited: the service game on 5-4 of the second set, played really badly, won which would have gone on for two sets to zero, and the break of advantage had in the fifth set on 4-3, immediately returned without Wawrinka having to do exceptional things.

Australian Open fifth fatal set Italian Seppi

The "diesel" start of Andreas Seppi is part of one of the certainties (or almost) of life, and this game is no exception: Wawrinka immediately runs 3-0 in nine minutes with Seppi who inexplicably always dribbles on the backhand exposing himself to the accelerations along the line . But the blue is an expert in the long run, continues with his dribbles from the back of the field and in a short time hangs up Wawrinka on 3-3. The Swiss player is not precise, he makes a mistake more than usual when he tries the side openings, and when on 4-4 he gives up the beat, getting back from 40-15 and suffers the break that costs him the first fraction in 42 minutes of play.

The Swiss champion is definitely nervous, his racquet learns about the cement of the Margaret Court Arena in a couple of occasions, but his anger breaks out in the sixth game, when he can't take advantage of three break points. A free from the baseline and a bad smash bagged in Seppi's net give Wawrinka a 15-40 that the red-crusader athlete cannot concretize. Angry shoots a ball that hits the roof beams and the chair judge Alison Hughes warns him. Stan is not there, he says that his gesture does not deserve a warning, which on other occasions had not been penalized: he talks for several minutes with the chair judge, he also calls on referee Gerry Armstrong, but the warning remains. Another break ball vanishes two games later, despite the roars that Wawrinka produces to try to load, and it ends up being the Swiss to wrap himself on 4-4 in three free errors that send Seppi to serve for the set on 5- 4. Here it is the blue that does not take a golden opportunity, returning the three free and the break for the 5-5. On 6-5 Stan builds two excellent points, takes 15-40 and closes at the second set point with another nasty mistake by Seppi who just resists the temptation to imitate his opponent in throwing the ball in the Melbourne Park ground.

Neither of the two protagonists can find sufficient continuity in their game to be able to give an acceleration to their score, or even just to warm up the crowd of the Margaret Court Arena that huddles in jackets, sweatshirts and even blankets to shelter from the breeze chill of this Australian midsummer evening. On 3-2 it is Wawrinka who finds the right flicker: he enters with the right answer on two rather weak seconds (from left) by Seppi, then a winning cross right and an error of the Italian complete the work that gives Stan the break advantage. In the following two rounds of batting, Wawrinka concedes only one point, and after two hours and 9 minutes of play he takes the lead two sets to one.

The fourth set proceeds along the same lines as the first three, although Wawrinka seems to accentuate the tendency to move the ball with the slice instead of playing in progression. However, he is the first to get involved in a complicated batting game, the one on 2-3 lasted 14 points, in which he starts with a double foul but from which he leaves without conceding a break ball. Immediately afterwards, Seppi must serve a river game, this time with 18 points, in which he is helped by the errors of law by Wawrinka, unable to take advantage of four chances for the break. At this point the tennis counterpoint hits mercilessly: Wawrinka slips three other free errors, the break that allows Seppi to bring the match to the fifth set.

The music does not change even in the decisive set (if not that programmed by the DJ who launches the partial with "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond, perhaps in honor of the pensioner Wozniacki). In the first six games the rival collects only three fifteen. On 3-3 it is Seppi who places the first stretch: taking advantage of two errors by Wawrinka, increasingly shaky on the right side, he gets the break. Andreas starts to row from the bottom, but on the 5-3 ball he loses seven points in a row (four of which with free errors) and puts his opponent ahead. In the tenth game, Stan suddenly pulls two balls from the bottom of the cylinder, Seppi puts a backhand on the net and on the first match point one of the very few winning cross rights of Wawrinka closes the game marking the victory of the Swiss after 3 hours and 38 minutes.

ANDREAS 'STATEMENTS - "I'm pretty pissed off" begins the South Tyrolean tennis player. “The first one (5-3 ball in the fifth set, editor's note) came out of nothing, ace to come out like this. I made two fairly easy showers that I could avoid, usually I'm pretty solid on that side; then I got nervous, but in the end he played better. During the set he does a little less, then towards the end of the set he starts pulling more. But you have to be able to do it well, so good at him. " Very sympathetically, Seppi summed it up like this: "You can see that even at 35 you can do bullshit, you never stop learning!".

On the programming of the next weeks: “Good question. I am enrolled in the Newport challenger that starts on Monday and I think I will go there, even if I don't want to go after this defeat "jokes Andreas. “Then I have New York and Delray Beach. I have been playing for the last 3-4 weeks, then I stop a bit because the baby is born and I do hip infiltrations. "