Stan Wawrinka (Photo : Getty Images)
Stan Wawrinka's bid to defend his French Open title could depend in the success of the Swiss' campaign at the Italian Open 2016.
Wawrinka has yet to find his winning form in the past two months, particularly in the clay-court tournaments leading up to the second Grand Slam event of the year. His appearances at the Monte Carlo Masters and Madrid Open did not go well, suffering losses against Rafael Nadal and Australia's Nick Kyrgios, respectively.
While the defeat from Nadal is not much of a surprise, considering the Spaniard's improved form, the alarming part from Wawrinka's game was the second round loss in the Spanish capital against Kyrgios. It was the second time this year that Wawrinka succumbed to an early exit, with the first instance happening at the Miami Open against Russia's Andrey Kuznetsov.
Tennis World USA's Dzevad Mesic believes Wawrinka can regroup in Rome, with the draw favoring the 31-year-old Swiss as he has the chance to not face any of the Big Four until the semifinal round, where he could go against world No. 2 Andy Murray.
"The two-time Majors' champion and last year's Rome semi-finalist certainly has the capacity to do so and his opponents can't take him for granted, that's for sure," Mesic wrote.
"It remains to be seen how Stanimal will perform in the Italian capital, but don't get surprised if he rises to the occasion and ends up as the champion."
Wawrinka has started his Italian Open campaign on a winning note, defeating Benoit Paire of France 5-7 6-2 6-1 in the second round of the tournament. The two-time Grand Slam champion earned three breaks to secure the second set before finishing off the Frenchman in the final set by holding the latter at love to go up 4-1.
"I'm really happy with that win," Wawrinka said, reports the ATP's official website. "There were some really good rallies. It was a good atmosphere out there."
Wawrinka next faces Argentina's Juan Monaco, whom the former has defeated in all of their four meetings, most recently in last year's edition of the Rome Masters.
With the Italian Open being Wawrinka's last stop before heading to Paris, there is pressure for the world No. 4 to play well and gain the needed momentum to fend off the likes of Novak Djokovic and Nadal, who appear as top favorites in this year's French Open, although a win on the clay-courts of the Italian capital would be monumental for Wawrinka's confidence to gun for a second-straight French Open glory.
