Associated Press
Dubai, Feb 27: Stan Wawrinka reached his second final of the season as Nick Kyrgios retired injured from their semifinal at the ATP Dubai Championships here Friday night. The Australian quit due to back pain while trailing 4-6, 0-3, having had on-court treatment after the seventh game of the opening set.
The French Open champion will face former open finalist Marcos Baghdatis. The latter defeated Feliciano Lopez 3-6, 7-6(7-1), 6-1 in the other semifinal. Wawrinka had won his first final at the Chennai Open in January. So he stands close to winning the second title of the year when he faces Baghdatis at the Aviation Club courts here.
Kyrgios ran out of puff after winning his first career ATP title last week in Marseille and travelling directly to the Gulf; his win streak of nine consecutive matches was ended by Wawrinka in 44 minutes. The Australian now faces a race against time to be fit for next weekend’s Davis Cup first round tie against the United States in Melbourne.
Wawrinka, playing here for the first time in eight years and without a win prior to this week, went up a double break on Kyrgios in the opening set and had no difficulty closing it out.
Kyrgios’s level dropped in the second set, with the 20-year-old ranked 33rd giving up after losing three straight games.
Meanwhile Baghdatis after losing the first set was down a break and 2-4 in the second. But he showed amazing resilience to force a break back and take the set to a tie-breaker where he reigned supreme. In the third set he simply ran away with the match.
