Stanislas Wawrinka tames Rafael Nadal to win maiden Grand Slam at Australian Open

At the start of the third set, Nadal was in early trouble when he was down a couple of break points in the first game. But Wawrinka failed to take advantage and the Spaniard showed his immense willpower by striking a clean winner to hold serve. The resolute Nadal struck a forehand up the line winner to gain two break points in the second game, as he started to work his way back.

Wawrinka saved the first with an ace, but made a forehand error on the next point to surrender the break. Another forehand in the net left the Swiss down 0-3, as the errors mounted for the suddenly lacklustre challenger from Lausanne. Clearly struggling for focus, Wawrinka finally held serve in the fourth game, aided by his 16th ace of the match.

Nadal kept his end steady by winning the fifth game, even as the errors mounted for Wawrinka. The Swiss was struggling for consistency, and it seemed like an effort for him to even hold serve. Meanwhile, Nadal seemed to be getting better with each passing game, as he struck a couple of stinging off-forehand winners to gain a 5-2 lead.

Serving to take the third at 5-3, Nadal was down a couple of break points. But Wawrinka was far from his best and he paid the penalty for 19 unforced errors as he netted a backhand return to end the set in favour of Nadal. The Spaniard saved all four breakpoints he faced in that set to find his way into this final.

Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka reacts after a point against Spain’s Rafael Nadal during the men’s singles final on day 14 of the 2014 Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 26, 2014.

Wawrinka had a couple of opportunities to break in the second game of the fourth set, but Nadal was equal to the task. The set stayed on serve to the fifth game, as Wawrinka held to 3-2 with a couple of aces. A backhand into the net from Nadal gave two break points to Wawrinka in the next game and a forehand up the line winner from Wawrinka sealed a 4-2 lead.

There was to be more drama though and Wawrinka, unsure of his feet messed a couple of easy forehands to fall to 0-40 in the seventh game. He sought to attack on the next point, but failed to keep his forehand in play to surrender the advantage almost immediately.

Wawrinka used his backhand to good effect as he engaged Nadal in a lengthy rally that ended when the Spaniard failed to control a backhand on the stretch. On the next point Nadal was drawn forward and could only net his backhand to offer two more break points to the Swiss. Wawrinka pointed to his temple after striking a clean forehand winner to take the break and a 5-3 lead.

When Nadal found the net with his backhand a couple of points later, Wawrinka edged closer to a dream at 30-0. A big serve followed and the Swiss gained three championship points. Another forehand winner sealed a great victory that he might celebrate for the remainder of his life.

Just as Robin Soderling, who beat Nadal with his stunning forehand in 2009, Wawrinka achieved the improbably by attacking from the start of the match. Incidentally, Magnus Norman was Soderling’s coach at the time as he is with Wawrinka now, who will become the world No.3 when the rankings are released on Monday.

Wawrinka had 53 winners to just 19 from Nadal, but the fact that he also had 49 errors to 32 underlined the fact that the match was played off the Swiss player’s racquet for much of that nearly two-and-a-half-hour encounter. The Swiss also won 11 of 12 points he played at the net and took five of 15 break points to clinch the biggest victory of his career.

Wawrinka had never won anything bigger than an ATP World Tour 250 event prior to this match. But from Monday, Wawrinka will stop being the other Swiss as he takes his own place in the history of the great game. For the vanquished Nadal, he remains the top ranked player and has to wait till Paris this summer to emulate Pete Sampras‘s collection of 14 major titles.