Stan Wawrinka rolled back the years as the 38-year-old Swiss knocked out seeded Argentine Tomas Etcheverry on Thursday to reach the third round at Wimbledon.
Wawrinka, in the twilight of his career, proved too good for a player 15 years his junior as he claimed a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory on a sunny Court Three.
It was the first time Wawrinka has reached the third round of a Grand Slam for three years and his reward is a box-office duel with defending champion Novak Djokovic.
The 88th-ranked Wawrinka, who has extended his career despite issues with his knees, had lost in the first or second round of his last six Grand Slam tournaments.
"It's a long time that I didn't win too much at Grand Slams," Wawrinka said.
"I've been working hard to get back to a better level and I'm happy with the way I'm coming up."
However, Wawrinka was realistic about his chances in the tournament.
"There's zero opportunity to win Wimbledon for me, I think," he said. "I'm happy to have won today again. I think it was a great match. I'm playing better each match and I think it's an honour to play Novak here.
"I was missing that on my career to play him in the grand slam in Wimbledon. It's going to be a difficult challenge. Hopefully I can make a competitive match, but, if you will look at recent results, I don't really stand a chance."
Meanwhile, Liam Broady outlasted world No 4 Casper Ruud in five sets for a career-best win that sent him through to the third round at Wimbledon.
Broady had to dig deep to fight back from two sets to one down but - carried by a buoyant Centre Court crowd - he clinched an excellent 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory in three hours and 27 minutes.
Ruud had made the finals of Roland Garros and the US Open during the past 12 months and yet had no answers to Broady's mixture of flamboyance and grit, with this win sending the world No 142 through to the third round for a second year in a row.
Also, Germany's Alexander Zverev fired 20 aces past Dutch qualifier Gijs Brouwer to move into the second round with a hard-earned 6-4, 7-6,(4), 7-6 (5) win.
In the women's section, former Wimbledon semi-finalist Elina Svitolina continued her excellent run in Grand Slams following her maternity break as the Ukrainian wildcard downed 28th seed Elise Mertens 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 to move into the third round.
Svitolina, who returned to the tour in April following the birth of her daughter in October 2022, reached the French Open quarter-finals last month and proved too good for five-times champion Venus Williams in her Wimbledon opener.
"I enjoy so much being on the court, getting this chance to play in front of an amazing crowd in such an amazing event," Svitolina said.
"I'll try to accept what's coming my way though sometimes there can be tough days. I know my family is there supporting me and enjoying every single moment I get to play in such an amazing event."
Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Our Time Has Come
Alyssa Ayres, Oxford University Press
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MWTC info
Tickets to the MWTC range from Dh100 and can be purchased from www.ticketmaster.ae or by calling 800 86 823 from within the UAE or 971 4 366 2289 from outside the country and all Virgin Megastores. Fans looking to attend all three days of the MWTC can avail of a special 20 percent discount on ticket prices.
My Cat Yugoslavia by Pajtim Statovci
Pushkin Press
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
The winners
Fiction
- ‘Amreekiya’ by Lena Mahmoud
- ‘As Good As True’ by Cheryl Reid
The Evelyn Shakir Non-Fiction Award
- ‘Syrian and Lebanese Patricios in Sao Paulo’ by Oswaldo Truzzi; translated by Ramon J Stern
- ‘The Sound of Listening’ by Philip Metres
The George Ellenbogen Poetry Award
- ‘Footnotes in the Order of Disappearance’ by Fady Joudah
Children/Young Adult
- ‘I’ve Loved You Since Forever’ by Hoda Kotb
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
