TENNIS ROTTERDAM – Stan Wawrinka edged Milos Raonic after two tie-breaks with 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (8-6) in one hour and 38 minutes to set up the final against Tomas Berdych at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam. Wawrinka has reached his 18th career final on his first appearance in Rotterdam since 2005. Diego Sampaolo
The first set went on serve without breaks and came down to the tie-break. In the first game Raonic held serve to love. Wawrinka faced three break point chances in the second game but he saved them with his serve- Wawrinka earned his only break point chance of the first set in the fifth game but Raonic fended it off with his serve. The tie-break was dominated by Wawrinka who got two mini-breaks and won it with 7-3.
The second set also went on serve and was decided by the tie-break. In the seventh game Wawrinka faced three break points but Raonic failed to convert them. In the breaker Wawrinka got a mini-break on the sixth point but Raonic broke straight back. Raonic fought back from 2-4 to take the lead with 6-4 by reeling off four consecutive points. Wawrinka saved two set points at 4-6 down and got two match points. Raonic saved the first match point at 6-7 down with his serve before Wawrinka served out on the second match point . Wawrinka extended his win-loss record to 4-0 in his head-to-head matches against Raonic.
Wawrinka saved all the six break points he faced and hit 10 aces.
Wawrinka will be looking to win his ninth ATP title and the first on hard-court.
“I have been playing very well. I have been really aggressive and moving well in the rallies. I served well when I was against a break point. It’s only one or two points that make the difference and I played a very good tie-break”, said Wawrinka.
Wawrinka leads 10-5 in his head-to-head matches against his final rival Tomas Berdych, including eight of the last nine matches. In their last match Wawrinka beat Berdych 6-1 6-1 at the ATP Finals in London.
