MELBOURNE, Australia — He’s 40. He just made Grand Slam history by beating a 21-year-old qualifier in a fifth-set tiebreaker to reach the third round of the Australian Open.
And if Stan Wawrinka felt like he deserved a beer after the longest match at the season’s first major, nobody was going to argue.
Wawrinka had to dig deep Thursday to edge Arthur Gea in a 4-hour, 33-minute epic to become the first man 40 or older to reach the third round of a Grand Slam since the 1978 Australian Open.
The 2014 champion held it together while Gea struggled with cramps in the fifth set’s 10-point tiebreaker, hanging on for 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (3).
“I’ll pick up a beer,” he told the crowd in an on-court TV interview. “I deserve one!”
Ken Rosewall was the last man to go so far at a major in his 40s - he was 44 and that was 48 years ago.
Wawrinka announced last month that this year would be his last on the elite tour. Asked how he felt after two rounds, he got straight to the point: “Exhausted!”
“It’s my last Australian Open, so I’m trying to last as long as possible,” he told the crowd. “Not only I had fun but you gave me so much energy. I’m not young any more so I need the extra.”
Apart from clusters of vocal French fans, the crowd on KIA Arena was almost entirely behind the Swiss veteran, including a woman holding up a sign that featured a silhouette image of Wawrinka and the words “Stan the Man.”
He’s earned the reputation, having played more five-set Grand Slam matches than anyone in the Open era: He’s now 26-23.
Gea went to five sets for the first time and will no doubt take some lessons from the schooling.
“It was an incredible experience,” he said. “I will take time to analyze everything. But, yeah, it was cool.”
The 28-year-old American said Wawrinka’s age-defying form was impressive.
“I can barely imagine playing in, like, four years from now!”
Fashion and friction: Naomi Osaka’s two rounds at the Australian Open couldn’t have been more different.
Osaka fended off Sorana Cirstea in a tense 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 win at Margaret Court Arena on Thursday night. Cirstea’s parting shot was at the net.
The pair barely exchanged a handshake over the net, with Cirstea glancing in Osaka’s direction briefly and then turning her head away.
As they walked toward the umpire’s chair, Osaka asked, “What was that for?”
Cirstea responded directly to the two-time Australian Open winner, upset with Osaka’s efforts to pump herself up at stages during the match.
“Apparently a lot of ‘C’mons’ that she was angry about,” Osaka said, “but whatever. I think this was her last Australian Open so, OK, sorry she was mad about it.”
She said she was open to talking it over with Cirstea.
“I guess that emotions were very high for her. I also want to apologize,” Osaka said. “I think the first couple things that I said on the court was disrespectful. I don’t like disrespecting people. That’s not what I do.”
Cirstea said the issue was blown out of proportion and she’d prefer to reflect on her decades of experience at the Australian Open.
“There was no drama. It was just a five-second exchange between two players that have been on tour for a long time,” she said. “It stays between us.”
The tense finish was in stark contrast to Osaka’s grand entrance that went viral two days earlier for her first-round win over Antonia Ruzic. Osaka walked onto the court wearing a wide-brim hat, a veil and holding a white parasol — a design she said her clothing sponsor, Nike, let her create.
For the second round, she dispensed with the couture hat, veil and parasol but was still wearing the jellyfish-inspired dress, a matching warmup jacket in the same blue and green aquatic hues, and a visor.
“Just something fun I like to do on the court. I like to express myself through clothes,” Osaka said of her prematch walk-on designs.
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