Stan Wawrinka battled to a 7-6(6) 5-7 6-4 3-6 8-6 win over Stefanos Tsitsipas in a five-hour epic in the fourth round of the French Open.
The Swiss, 34, had to draw on every ounce of determination and energy in his body to get the better of his talented young foe, who impressed everyone watching with his superb shot-making abilities.
And there will be a lot resting on the World No.28’s recovery if he is going to continue his bid for a second title at Roland Garros. His quarter-final opponent will be friend and compatriot Roger Federer, who will be feeling fresh after he breezed past Leonardo Mayer in straight sets.
In the first set, Wawrinka and Tsitsipas virtually matched each other stroke for stroke. Their serving percentages were very high and very similar, their winners (11) and unforced errors (12) tallies were identical and there was only one break point in the entire set.
Consequently, the set was dominated by the respective server throughout. The inevitable tie-break followed the same pattern, and there was nothing between the players until the Greek gifted the set to the Swiss with a double fault when he was 6-7 behind.
Tsitsipas wins thrilling second set
While the match did not really catch light in the opener, that soon changed in the second set. Tsitsipas adopted a more aggressive approach. He went for his shots more from the baseline and came into the net whenever possible.
For the first three games, it worked superbly as he held twice and wore Wawrinka down in between to earn a break and establish a 3-0 lead.
However, the Swiss player responded superbly. He battled to a hold in game four. Then he fashioned a break point opportunity and seized it with a brilliant cross-court backhand pass.
There was a brief lull in the drama as both players held comfortably. But then it all kicked off again in game eight as a fired-up Tsitsipas produced some great shots to earn his second break of the set.
After Wawrinka raised his level to break back immediately, the Greek did not react well. He smashed three water bottles and received a code violation warning from the umpire.
That release of frustration almost enabled Tsitsipas to break the Swiss in game ten, but the three-time Grand Slam champion saved four break points and clung on to make it 5-5.
As it turned out, that hold only delayed the outcome that had seemed likely for a while, as the World No.6 broke Wawrinka in game twelve to level the match at one-set-all.
Wawrinka responds like the champion he is
The 24th seed realised he needed to improve in the third set. He started that process by serving better than he had in the second set and continued it by putting pressure on Tsitsipas’ serve.
Consequently, Wawrinka almost broke in game three and game five. However, while the Greek survived on both those occasions, he could not do anything in game seven.
First, the Swiss player hit a brilliant backhand winner that landed right on the sideline. Then, at 15-30, he unleashed a powerful forehand winner that bounced just inside the same line. And finally, when he was faced with two break points against, Tsitsipas missed a backhand.
After another comfortable hold, Wawrinka forced break points on the Greek’s serve for the fourth time in succession. And for the third time in four tries, Tsitsipas clung onto his serve.
This only delayed the inevitable, as the Swiss remained rock-solid on his serve to close out the third set.
Tsitsipas forces a decider but Wawrinka wins it
Tsitsipas made a great start to the fourth set. He broke Wawrinka in game two and saved a break point in game three to forge a 3-0 lead.
The World No.28 steadied himself to hold and then broke back in game five. However, the Greek applied a lot of pressure in the next game and Wawrinka faltered to enable him to break again.
That virtually finished the set, as the Swiss made no impression in Tsitsipas’ next two service games. The World No.6 held twice to clinch the set 6-3 and take the match into a decider.
For the first ten games, the decider was a mostly cagey affair as neither player took too many risks when their opponent was serving. The exceptions to this were games one and five when Wawrinka saved break points.
And, when the set came to life in game eleven, the Swiss found himself in trouble on serve again. Tsitsipas earned three separate break point chances. However, he squandered them all and the set continued.
After two comfortable holds of serve, Wawrinka led 7-6. That enabled him to swing freely on the Greek’s serve, which is exactly what he did.
He hit a succession of powerful cross-court shots which led to errors from Ttitsipas and a 15-40 scoreline. Then he knifed a superb backhand just beyond the grasp of the World No.6 to seize his first match point.
