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Stan Wawrinka advanced to the Roland Garros semi-finals for the first time Tuesday as he upset countryman Roger Federer 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(4) in blustery conditions in Paris.
Wawrinka beat Federer at a Grand Slam championship for the first time (Federer was previously 4-0 at majors). The Lausanne native is through to his fourth major semi-final; he went on to win his first Grand Slam title at the 2014 Australian Open (d. Nadal).
The 30-year-old Wawrinka goes on to face either home favourite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Japan’s Kei Nishikori in the semi-finals.
Wawrinka went into Tuesday’s clash with a 2-16 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Federer and won just six games when the pair met three weeks ago in the Rome semi-finals. But the right-hander got off to a lightening start, breaking to love in the third game before going on to take the opener, saving a break point in the 10th game.
From 2-3 down in the second set, Wawrinka raised his level again to reel off four straight games and snatch the second set. It left Federer facing the challenge of coming back from two sets down for 10th time in his career, and he was afforded no opportunity.
The Basel native could not find a way to break Wawrinka’s serve and it was Wawrinka who pounced in the ensuing tie-break to seal victory in two hours and nine minutes. Despite the challenging weather, Wawrinka hit 43 winners to just 28 unforced errors.
Wawrinka will contest his second major semi-final of the season after reaching the last four at the Australian Open, where his title defence was ended by Novak Djokovic in five sets. His Melbourne run came between titles in Chennai (d. Bedene) and Rotterdam (d. Berdych).
Federer was bidding to reach his 37th Grand Slam semi-final and his eighth at Roland Garros, where he completed the career Grand Slam with victory in 2009 (d. Soderling). The Swiss has won 17 Grand Slam championships, with his last title coming at Wimbledon three years ago (d. Murray).
Not much to say Roger played his game, Stan was relentless & didn't give Roger any chances.
And to think everyone was so worried about Gael Monfils when we should have been more worried about Stan the man.
This was the first time in a Grand Slam that Roger was not able to break a player's serve since 2002!.
A well deserved win for Stan, and yet another disappointing (but not shocking) loss for Federer
:(.
Onward to the grass!.
And to think everyone was so worried about Gael Monfils when we should have been more worried about Stan the man.
This was the first time in a Grand Slam that Roger was not able to break a player's serve since 2002!.
A well deserved win for Stan, and yet another disappointing (but not shocking) loss for Federer
:(.
Onward to the grass!.
Of course tomorrow is the epic with Nadal and Djokovic. Pulling for Novak, this might be his time to finally dethrone the 'king of clay'.
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