
Keystone
Stan Wawrinka can't give himself the gift of victory on his 40th birthday.
In the quarter-finals of the Challenger tournament in Naples, the Vaud native lost 3:6, 4:6 to top seed Luciano Darderi (ATP 61).
More than a month after his last appearance on the tour, Wawrinka, who is ranked 168th in the world, can be satisfied with his performance at the start of the clay season despite the defeat. The oldest player in the top 1500 of the ATP rankings played his way into the last eight with convincing victories against the Croatians Borna Coric (ATP 112) and Borna Gojo (ATP 426).
Wawrinka will be back on the ATP Tour next week. The winner of three Grand Slam tournaments will be competing in Bucharest with a wild card.