SWISS VICTORY: Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka celebrates his Portugal Open victory, in Oeiras yesterday. Wawrinka beat Spain's David Ferrer 6-1, 6-4 in the final. (AFP)
DPA/Oeiras, Portugal Stanislas Wawrinka notched a second Swiss title victory at the Portugal Open as he followed Roger Federer’s precedent by winning the clay event with an upset of David Ferrer 6-1, 6-4 yesterday. The second-seeded winner claimed the fourth trophy of his career and third on clay with the 64-minute victory over his world number four rival, top seed at the Estadio Nacional. Wawrinka, the world number 16, won his last ATP title in January, 2011, at Chennai. Federer won the event in 2008 over Nikolay Davydenko and lost the 2010 final to Spain’s Albert Montanes. “It was the perfect match for me,” said Wawrinka, whose picturebook backhand served him well on a sunny afternoon. “It’s so tough to play David, he’s a big champion. “I congratulate him and his team. It was an honour to play him and to win this final. I’m rally, really happy, this was an amazing week for me.” Wawrinka was playing the event for the second straight year after losing in his debut in the semi-finals to Juan Del Potro. “I will have to tell Roger to come back and play here again, everyone seems to want him to return,” joked the winner. “As for me, I’m happy to be back here, I’ve had a good week on the clay.” Wawrinka profited from 31 unforced errors from Ferrer, who was called in at the last minute to replace ill Argentine holder Del Potro. The Swiss won with three breaks of Ferrer while never facing a break point on his own serve. Wawrinka showed his intentions as he dominated in a 29-minute opening set, with Ferrer not claiming a game until four minutes from the end of the set. But the Spanish seed made it more of a contest in the second until Wawrinka scored a break for 5-4 as his reverse chip backhand set up a break point, converted seconds later on Ferrer’s forehand wide. The Swiss served it out a game later with a service winner on the first of three match points. “Stan played a great match, he deserved to win,” said Ferrer, “There have been a lot of Spanish winners here and I wish I could have been one of them. “But I still had a good week, especially after coming in on the wild card. It was all positive. I had hoped to win but I still made the final and got matches on the clay.”