Vienna 2020: Stan Wawrinka vs Cristian Garin preview, head-to-head & prediction | Erste Bank Open

Match details

Fixture: Stan Wawrinka vs Cristian Garin

Date: 27 October 2020

Tournament: Erste Bank Open 2020

Round: First round (Round of 32)

Venue: Vienna, Austria

Category: ATP 500

Surface: Indoor hardcourt

Prize money: €1,409,510

Match timing: Approx. 7.30 pm local time, 12 am IST

Live telecast: USA - ESPN / Tennis Channel | India - Sony ESPN

Stan Wawrinka vs Cristian Garin preview

Three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka takes on Cristian Garin in the first round of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna on Tuesday.

Wawrinka had a solid start to the year, reaching the Australian Open quarterfinals. But he has had a few underwhelming performances since, and will be hoping to get back on track in the last month of the calendar.

The Swiss player sat out of the American hardcourt season, deciding to resume his season on European clay. After winning a Challenger level event in Prague, he failed to go deep at either the Rome Masters or Roland Garros.

That said, the 35-year-old did make a seemingly comfortable transition to indoor hardcourts last week in St. Petersburg. After bouncing back in a thrilling first-round match against Dan Evans, Wawrinka went all the way to the semifinals - where he lost to Denis Shapovalov.

Cristian Garin at the 2020 French Open

Wawrinka's opponent in the first round is Cristian Garin. The Chilean will be desperate to return to the form he showed before the lockdown, which earned him titles in Cordoba and Rio as well as an entry into the top 20 for the first time in his career.

Since then, however, Garin has been struggling to keep pace with the other in-form youngsters. Barring a semifinal appearance in Hamburg, the 24-year-old failed to make much of a mark on either the American hardcourts or European clay.

Stan Wawrinka vs Cristian Garin head-to-head

The meeting in Vienna is the second between the two players, and Stan Wawrinka currently leads Cristian Garin in the head-to-head by a margin of 1-0. The Swiss had registered an easy 6-1 6-4 6-0 win over Garin in the second round of Roland Garros 2019.

Stan Wawrinka vs Cristian Garin prediction

Stan Wawrinka at the 2020 Australian Open

Both players come into the match in similarly patchy form, making this a difficult match to predict. However, given Stan Wawrinka's experience and the fact that he has gotten used to the quick hardcourts at St. Petersburg already, he might have a slight edge.

Cristian Garin's loves playing on clay, but he has clean groundstrokes - and is particularly efficient with his backhand - which should translate to any surface. The Chilean's movement is also one of his strengths, although his second serve is an area that many of his opponents look to exploit.

Wawrinka, on the other hand, still has a world-class serve and point-ending power on his groundstrokes, despite the degradation in his physical conditioning. On Tuesday the Swiss would look to play to his strengths and hit flat and heavy from behind the baseline, especially since Garin is not the kind of player who takes the ball on the rise.

Prediction: Stan Wawrinka to win in three sets.