Stan Wawrinka happy to be flying under the radar
Defending champion Stan Wawrinka says he`s quite happy flying under the radar after easing into the fourth round at the Australian Open on Saturday, nominating Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal as title favourites.
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Melbourne: Defending champion Stan Wawrinka says he`s quite happy flying under the radar after easing into the fourth round at the Australian Open on Saturday, nominating Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal as title favourites.
It doesn`t perturb him one bit that he is not generating any headlines in the tournament as he threads his way through the top half of the men`s draw.
"I`m feeling good since the beginning of the tournament," he said.
"For sure I`m not the focus on the tournament because there`s Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal coming back from injury, was Roger Federer before he lost, there`s Nick Kyrgios, Bernard Tomic still playing.
"I still think Novak and Rafa are the big favourites for the tournament.
"For sure I`m not the focus. For me it doesn`t matter. I`m feeling great. I`m happy the way I`m playing. To get to the second week again, it`s great. So far everything is good for me."
Wawrinka was always in control of his first meeting with the 72nd-ranked Finn in four years and broke Nieminen`s serve six times and hit 55 winners.
He said he was looking forward to playing Garcia-Lopez after a "tough loss" to him at last year`s French Open.
"He`s been playing really good. I lost against him last year French Open first round," Wawrinka said.
"We had some tough battles in the past. It`s never easy. Think it will again depend a lot on me, the way I`m going to play, the way I`m going to be aggressive, because I need to make the game."
Wawrinka, who is now the main Swiss contender at this year`s Open following Federer`s shock defeat to Andreas Seppi on Friday, was pleased with his progress at the tournament.
"I was aggressive today on the court, it was in quite fast conditions and I took control of the match," he said.
"It`s been three really good matches, I think my game is there and I`m really happy to get through again."