TENNIS – Stan Wawrinka (8) beat Roger Federer (2) 6-4 6-3 7-6(4) on the Suzanne Langlen Court on a sunny but windy afternoon in Paris to qualify for the semifinals of the Roland Garros. The Lausanne player has reached the semifinals of the French Open for the first time in his career and his second semifinal of the year after the Australian Open last January. Diego Sampaolo
“Stan the Man” as he is commonly known amongst his fans, had won just 2 of his previous 18 head-to-head matches with his countryman. Most recently, he lost their last match in the Rome semifinal in May and had never beaten his compatriot in their previous three Grand Slam matches including the quarterfinals at Wimbledon last year.
This time Wawrinka took control of the match from the start and never relinquished until the end. Wawrinka earned a break point in the opening game of the match but Federer managed to save it as it took him near 7 minutes to hold serve. Federer again had to face break points in the 3rd game. This time around Wawrinka broke serve to love in the third game and pulled away for a 4-2 lead. Federer never recovered from this early deficit. Federer saved the first set point with a serve-and volley but Wawrinka converted the second set point to take it 6-4.
Wawrinka won four consecutive games from 2-3 in the second set with a break at 3-3. The 2014 Australian Open champion got a double break to clinch the second set with 6-3. Through 2 sets, Federer had yet to break serve. The third set went on serve with Federer serving to stay in the match down 4-5 and 5-6. The decider came down to the tie-break where Federer took a 2-1 lead. This is about as much of a lead Federer would get as Wawrinka was on a roll and raced out to a 6-3 lead. The end was drawing near for Federer who only save one of the match points. Wawrinka converted on his second opportunity to score a rare straight sets victory over Federer at a major.
Federer, who fought back from two sets down nine times in his career, never broke Wawrinka for the entire match. He was 0/4 on break points whereas Wawrinka broke Federer 3 times for the match. This was the first time Federer has failed to break serve in a Grand Slam match since his defeat in the fourth round of the 2002 US Open; near 13 years ago. It was the first time that Wawrinka beat Federer in a Grand Slam tournament. Federer now leads 4-1 in their Grand Slam matches.
Stan made it tough. When you lose there is always a bunch of things, the opponent, the conditions, the court and it’s the same for both guys. I am looking forward to what’s coming ahead now.There is nothing positive about losing today because I don’t need the extra days but I will use them with my family and have a great time with them and recover my body. I am looking forward to Halle and Wimbledon. I want to win it and I feel like my game is good. It’s been solid. I have just got to keep it up now”, said Federer
In the semifinal Wawrinka will face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who edged past Kei Nishikori in five sets with 6-1 6-4 4-6 3-6 6-3. Nishikori fought back from two sets down to draw level and force the match to the fifth set. Wawrinka and Tsonga are tied 3-3 in their head-to-head matches. It will be the third time that Wawrinka and Tsonga played at the Roland Garros. In both matches they played the fifth set. Wawrinka won in 2011, while Tsonga prevailed one year later.
Tsonga held his serve to 15 on his opening service game before breaking serve in the next game. The Frenchman got his second break to open up a 4-0 lead. Nishikori won his first game but was broken again to lose the first set 6-1.
Tsonga broke again at the start of the second set. The Frenchman got the double break en route to winning three consecutive games to serve for the set at 5-2. However, the match was interrupted for near 30 minutes at this point when piece of metal sheeting from an advertisement board fell down into a section of the crowd. There were a few minor injuries. Upon resumption of the match, Nishikori recovered one of the breaks and held serve to be down 4-5. Tsonga had another chance to close out the set and he recovered from a 0-30 hole by winning 4 consecutive points and took the set 6-4.
The third set went on serve until the ninth game. After saving three break points Nishikori held his serve in a hard-fought ninth game which lasted 13 minutes and featured 18 points for 5-4. He then went on to break Tsonga in the 10th game as he served to stay in the set. The match was now 2-1 sets Tsonga. Finally it looked like Nishikori was ready to play a match as for most of it, he looked lethargic and uninterested as he committed error and error. In the 4th set, Nishikori continued building the momentum as he broke Tsonga early for 3-1. Tsonga earned a break point chance at 5-3 but Nishikori saved it. Nishikori hit an inside-in forehand to force the match to the fifth set. Tsonga recovered from 15-40 to get the break for 3-1 in the fifth set, At 5-3 Tsonga clinched the win with an inside-out forehand
Tsonga, who beat Tomas Berdych in four sets in the fourth round, beat two top-5 players in a Grand Slam for the first time in his career. Tsonga will play his second semifinal here two years after losing to David Ferrer in 2013.
Tomorrow Novak Djokovic will take on Rafa Nadal in a blockbuster quarter final. The other quarter final match will be played between David Ferrer and Andy Murray
