Roger Federer was to meet Stanislas Wawrinka in the first quarter final of Australian Open 2011. There were high expectations. Wawrinka was coming after an easy upset of Andy Roddick in the previous round. He was undefeated so far in 2011 having lifted the trophy at Chennai Open in the first week of the month. He knew Federer’s game having practiced with him so often and having had a victory over him in Monte Carlo in 2009. However, the high hopes were belied the moment the match began. Wawrinka was broken in the very first game and in less than half an hour the first set was over 6-1 in Federer’s favour. In the second set, Wawrinka started finding range on his shots but mostly on his service game and just enough to survive. He got his first chance to break in the third service game of Federer in the second set and faithfully squandered it. He was broken in the seventh game of the second set. He lost it 3-6. The match was looking like a practice match for Federer. He was relaxed and trying all types of shots. There was no apparent tension on the court. Wawrinka had no urge to win and Federer had no fear of losing. Wawrinka was broken in the very first service game which was not unusual, but what was against the mood of the day was that Wawrinka smashed his racquet and got a racquet abuse caution. It was not known why he did it. He knew that he was being outplayed for no fault of his. There was no provocation. It fired up neither him nor the crowd. In the end, Wawrinka lived up to his status as a good friend of Roger Federer. The match ended 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 in Federer’s favour.
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