Top seed and former Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka was shocked in the Sofia semi-finals. The World No.15 was beaten 7-6, 6-4 by the World No.128 Mirza Basic from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
There were no breaks of serve in the first set, with Wawrinka winning more points behind his second serve than his first in an unusual statistic. Basic broke Wawrinka in the tiebreak for 7-6, and took the set with his own serve a point later.
Both men managed to break in the second. Wawrinka led first, going up 4-2. It looked as if the former US Open champion would at least force a deciding set. However, Basic then came back, winning four games in a row to move into his first ATP singles final.
Basic’s run to his first ever final has been highlighted by a number of wins including victories over Florian Mayer and 4th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber before knocking out the former slam champion. Basic will move into the Top 100 regardless of the result in the final.
His opponent will be another final debutant. World no.93 Marius Copil defeated qualifier Jozef Kovalik 6-4, 6-2. Copil’s run has included impressive wins over 5th seed Robin Haase and 3rd seed Gilles Muller.
Despite the loss for Wawrinka, the result is somewhat encouraging given that it was only his second tournament since missing much of the second part of the 2017 season due to a knee injury. Wawrinka had lost in the second round of the Australian Open to Tennys Sandgren in his first tournament back. Wawrinka is playing tennis again for the first time without long-term coach Magnus Norman, who had guided him to three grand slam titles. Norman and Wawrinka parted ways during the Swiss’ injury absence.
Last year’s winner and home player Grigor Dimitrov is not playing due to injury.
