Stan Wawrinka came back from a set down in his 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 win over Daniel Evans in 2 hours and 31 minutes in the first round at St. Petersburg Open.
Evans broke twice in the third and ninth games to win the first 6-3. Wawrinka saved two match points at 3-6 5-6 en route to winning the second set tie-break 7-4.
Wawrinka went down a break at the start of the third set, but he bounced back by breaking twice in the 9th and 12th games to take a 5-2 lead.
The Swiss player has extended his record in his head-to-head matches against Evans to 4-0 , but he was already forced to save match points against Evans twice at the 2016 US Open and at 2019 Indian Wells.
Wawrinka lost the 2016 St. Petersburg final against Alexander Zverev, but he has improved his record in his nine matches in the Russian tournament.
Wawrinka set up a second round match against Evgeny Donskoy for a spot in the quarter finals. Donskoy secured his spot in the second round with a 6-4 7-6 (7-4) win over Egor Gerasimov.
Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie converted both break points and hit 16 aces in his 6-4 4-6 6-3 win over US Taylor Fritz.
Alexander Bublik fought back from one set down to beat Mackaenzie McDonald 2-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 setting up a second round match against either Milos Raonic or JJ Wolf.
Russian wildcard Aslan Karatsev edged past US Tennys Sandgren 7-5 3-6 7-5 to secure his spot in the second round, where he will face either Karen Khachanov or James Duckworth.
