Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka crashed to a shock second-round defeat at the Madrid Open on Tuesday when he was upset 1-6 6-2 6-4 by qualifier Dominic Thiem.
Third-seeded Swiss Wawrinka, who followed up his title in Melbourne with victory at last month’s Monte Carlo Masters, started strongly against the 70th-ranked Austrian, who at 20 years and eight months is the youngest player in the top 100.
“It’s never easy to (adjust), especially here, it’s flying a little bit,” added the 29-year-old, who lost to Nadal in last year’s Madrid final.
