Stanislas Wawrinka beat an injured Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 on Sunday in an extraordinary Australian Open final which will take the Swiss to third in the world.
All pre-match predictions ran with Nadal, who owned a 12-0 record in the series and had never lost a set to the “second” Swiss after Roger Federer.
But Wawrinka, the 28-year-old eighth seed, ignored the past and concentrated only on his game amid the hoopla of Nadal’s long back injury timeout and court massages during changeovers.
It was a mental battle at the supreme level for both competitors.
Nadal occasionally looked to be in tears and had abandoned his pre-point mannerisms such as bouncing the ball repeatedly and flicking his hair after taking a medical timeout after the third game of the second set.
Wawrinka, now the top Swiss after Nadal beat Federer in the semi-finals, will rise to third in the world on Monday behind Nadal and Novak Djokovic while Federer will fall from sixth to eighth, his lowest ranking in almost a decade and a half.
Wawrinka overcame his nerves to end a run of three straight breaks in the fourth set gave him a 5-3 advatange. He served it out a game later with a forehand winner handing him the title after two and a half hours of play.
He also became the first player to beat the world number one (Nadal) and number two players (Djokovic in the quarters) since Sergi Bruguera did it at the 1993 French Open.
Nadal was bidding for his 14th grand slam singles title alongside Pete Sampras and would have become the third man in history to win each of the four grand slam titles twice after Roy Emerson and Rod Laver.
The Spaniard came to the match on an 11-match winning streak; Wawrinka won the title on his 36th appearance at a grand slam, second longest behind Goran Ivanisevic (48 at 2001 Wimbledon).
Wawrinka overcame a huge hurdle as he won his first-ever set against Nadal after losing his first 26.
The fearless Swiss took control in 37 minutes as he saved three break points in the ninth game and then slammed down an ace to take the early lead, holding serve for the 34th consecutive time.
Wawrinka had looked the more confident from the start, with Nadal sweating buckets after only a few games. Wawrinka, by contrast, calmly broke for 3-1 and made it 4-1 with two aces and a winner as the challenger made the Spaniard look ordinary.
Wawrinka did not let up in the second set, starting with a break for 1-0 after a game which began with a 22-shot rally. Facing three break points, Nadal could not touch a Wawrinka backhand return winner.
The loss was even more bitter as he received a delay warning from the chair, which did not help the black humour of the game’s most blatantly slow player.
After holding for 2-1, Nadal called for the trainer, reportedly for his back, and left the court for a medical timeout.
Wawrinka argued with chair umpire Carlos Ramos for not being informed of the reason for Nadal’s departure, with the official refusing to budge on the issue. The controversy escalated as tournament referee Wayne McKewan was called out to make another denial.
Nadal’s return to the court after an over-run seven-minute timeout was greeted with substantial booing from a capacity 15,000 crowd.
Wawrinka responded quickly with a love game to go 3-1, then made it 4-1 with a break of Nadal, who was then treated stretched out on court for a back massage.
But Nadal, who could barely serve, managed to save three set points and break his opponent for 2-5, apparently determined to try and see the final through. Wawrinka sent over 11th ace to take the set 6-2 as the trainer re-appeared for a distraught Nadal.
Wawrinka lost focus in the third set as he was broken in the second game. Nadal controlled the set as Wawrinka faded, winning it 6-3.
But the Swiss managed to regain his composure and soon had his maiden grand slam title.