Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland celebrates after the men's singles final match against Novak Djokovic of Serbia at the 2016 U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, the United States, Sept. 11, 2016. Stan Wawrinka won 3-1 to claim the title. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)
NEW YORK, Sept.11 (Xinhua) -- Third-seeded Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland overwhelmed world No. 1 Novak Djokovic 6-7 (1-7), 6-4, 7-5, 6-3, winning his first U.S. Open title here on Sunday.
"This is amazing," Wawrinka said after the match. "I came here without expecting to win it, but every time I stepped on the court I was trying to win every match. I think I played quite a lot of tennis these two weeks. I'm completely empty."
It is the 31-year-old Swiss' third Grand Slam title in as many major final appearances, after he won the Australian Open in 2014 and the French Open in 2015. Wawrinka now becomes one of eight men to win at least three Grand Slam finals without losing. Wawrinka also becomes one of just five players who have won at least two Slams at age of 30 or older.
Djokovic only played three complete matches before entering the final. The Serb advanced to the second round with a walkover and won both his third round and the quarterfinal when his opponents were forced to retire with injuries.
Wawrinka's path was quite the opposite. After three-set victories in the first two round, Wawrinka had to suffer through a five-set win over Daniel Evans in the third round. All of the rest of his matches in the tournament lasted four sets.
The top seed has spent a total of just 8 hours, 58 minutes on court, while Wawrinka has logged 17 hours, 54 minutes of court time.
"After playing seven, eight months of the season, obviously you're not very fresh," Djokovic said after the match. "But of course coming into the Grand Slam final you're giving it your best. We both felt the demanding match that we played today, physically."
