Three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka admitted that hesitating at a crucial time during a draining five-set Australian Open epic Wednesday cost him a chance of matching his quarter-final run last year. The 35-year-old Swiss, the tournament winner in 2014, struggled to match the intensity of Marton Fucsovics in the opening two sets but regrouped to stay in the fight. On a scorching day, the 17th seed had three match points in the fifth set tiebreaker but blew them all, with the Hungarian reeling off five straight points for a famous 7-5, 6-1, 4-6, 2-6, 7-6 (11/9) win in just under four hours. 

"It was tough match of course, five sets, four hours," said Wawrinka, whose tournament preparations were upset when he contracted Covid-19 before Christmas. "Always a difficult battle against my opponent, we played a few times in the past, always really tough matches and today was the same. "It was not the best level for me, but again, I was fighting, I had some chance to finish the match, I didn't finish, I hesitated a little bit when I had the match point and I lost it," he added.