By Michael Church and Shrivathsa Sridhar
MELBOURNE, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Stan Wawrinka lived to fight another day in his final Australian Open on Thursday, the three-times Grand Slam winner battling to a marathon 4-6 6-3 3-6 7-5 7-6(10-3) win over Frenchman Arthur Gea to reach the third round at Melbourne Park.
The 40-year-old Wawrinka, who won his first Grand Slam in Melbourne in 2014 before going on to capture the French Open in 2015 and the U.S. Open a year later, had announced before the tournament
that he would retire at the end of the 2026 season.
Having received a late wild card to play in the tournament, Wawrinka made the most of his chance, becoming the first player aged 40 or over to make the third round of a major since Ken Rosewall at the Australian Open in 1978.
"I'm exhausted," Wawrinka said after a slugfest that lasted four hours and 33 minutes. "It's my last Australian Open, so I'm trying to last as long as possible.
"Not only did I have fun, but also you (the fans) gave me so much energy. I'm not young anymore, so I need your energy, extra energy from you.
"It's an amazing feeling to be on this court, to have so much noise, so much support. It was a long match. I don't know how I'm going to recover, but I'm super happy."
With the crowd behind him, Wawrinka held his own against an opponent 19 years his junior throughout the opening exchanges and came back from a set down to draw level in the contest after the second set.
Gea edged the third set when he broke the Swiss right-hander's serve to take a 5-3 lead as Wawrinka sent a backhand from the baseline wide of the tramline. The Frenchman then held serve to move clear.
The pair traded breaks of serve in the fourth set, which Wawrinka won to force a decider. The Swiss surged to a 2-0 lead in the fifth set, tapping his temple to underline his mental resolve as the Kia Arena crowd roared.
Gea had other ideas and erased the deficit but Wawrinka continued to play like a younger version of himself even as his opponent began to cramp, winning the tiebreak to make the third round for the first time since his 2020 quarter-final run.
"I'm always going to leave everything on the court ... always trying my best, trying to push myself. Thank you so much for being here," Wawrinka said, as he looked ahead to celebrating his achievement at his 75th Grand Slam.
"Maybe I'm going to pick up a beer," he said.
(Reporting by Michael Church, Shrivathsa Sridhar and Ian Ransom in Melbourne, Editing by William Maclean and Toby Davis)
