At age 30, Stan Wawrinka feels he is still improving. And Tuesday's first-round victory turned out to be more proof of that.
The top-seeded Swiss got off to a good start in his fourth Japan Open appearance by scoring a 7-5, 6-3 win over Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic at Tokyo's Ariake Colosseum.
For world No. 4, Wawrinka, who has secured a berth to this year's ATP World Tourl Finals, it was only his second victory over Stepanek. The other win came at the 2013 U.S. Open after he lost all of their previous four meetings from 2005-09.