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'I'm sorry I touch him in the wrong place': Wawrinka floors opponent in fifth set

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Obviously, former Australian Open winner Stan Wawrinka​ wasn't expecting Slovakian Martin Klizan​ to put up such a fight.

The world number 35 pushed fourth-seed Wawrinka to a marathon five sets over more than three hours on the first night of play at the Open.

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Stan Wawrinka hits Martin Klizan below the belt

Slovakian tennis star Martin Klizan doubles over in pain after a strong hit from the former Australian Open winner Stan Wawrinka, flies straight into his nether-region.

A rusty Wawrinka – hindered by hitting 43 unforced errors – eventually won, dispatching his adversary 4-6 6-4 7-5 4-6 6-4.

But not before he poured out his frustrations right into his opponent's nether-region.

At 4-4 in the fifth set, Klizan reached for a low return and bunted it harmlessly up in the air – target practice for Wawrinka's meaty forehand.

The Slovakian dropped his racquet-hand, knowing the point was lost. Wawrinka sauntered in, sized up his shot, then slammed the ball as hard as he could into Klizan's groin.

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Wawrinka, let's remember, has a forehand that has averaged 128km/h before. That's fast.

Klizan sunk to the ground in pain, and Wawrinka quickly clambered over the net to apologise – before going on to win the match.

At a later press conference Klizan sounded less than impressed with the Swiss's miss.

"I stopped playing. He could play anywhere, the whole court," the Slovak said.

"He could play anywhere on the court and he hit me."

Wawrinka defended playing a hard shot against a seemingly-defenceless opponent.

"That was, for sure, a tough shot for him. The thing is there are some players they fake you, and you stop playing and then they just put up the racquet," Wawrinka said.

"So for me I already miss some easy ones. For me the most important thing was to run straight over to him.

"I just wanted to make sure he was OK. I realised he was OK.

"I'm sorry I touch him in the wrong place. But I think it was OK at the end."