On a gusty day on Court Suzanne Lenglen the quality of tennis was not affected as Stanislas Wawrinka made it through to the semifinals of Roland Garros for the first time in his career, defeating Roger Federer 6-4 6-3 7-6(4).
The first set was all about Wawrinka. He is known as one of the most powerful players on tour and this reputation was confirmed as he slammed forehands and backhands into the corners leaving Federer stranded. He scored a break point in Federer’s opening service game but failed to convert. In Federer’s second service game he did not make the same mistake. Having opened up a 0-40 opportunity, he whipped a backhand crosscourt to pass Federer and take the break.
From there, it wasn’t plain sailing as Federer earned three break points but failed to convert. Wawrinka ensured that he was playing his power game as opposed to being drawn into a battle of variety. Federer failed to come to the net which was a surprise given his willingness to use the serve-volley tactic throughout the season. However, facing a set point he brought out the serve-volley and it reaped its reward as he held serve. Scoring a break point as Wawrinka served for the set, Federer slipped and failed to get to a backhand shot from Wawrinka. With his second set point, Wawrinka went behind Federer with the forehand and took the set 6-4. With a whopping 20 winners to Federer’s 8 it was clear that Wawrinka simply outplayed the former world #1.
Danger immediately reared its head in the second set as Wawrinka carved out two break point opportunities but was denied with a forehand winner and unreturnable serve from Federer. As they traded holds, there was the sense that Wawrinka was knocking on the door and only had to string some points together before the opportunity would come. Serving at 3-3, Wawrinka struck as he dispatched a short ball from Federer back behind him to set up a break point. Federer dumped a volley into the net and Wawrinka took the break.
The most surprising thing about the match was that Federer seemingly had no answer to the groundstrokes coming from Wawrinka. Despite his best efforts to mix up the pace with slices, volleys and drop shots there was nothing that could deter Wawrinka from his game plan. In fact, Wawrinka hit with such power that the wind failed to impact his game. With Federer serving at 3-5, Wawrinka took his opportunity as he struck a forehand pass winner and Federer missed a forehand to give Stan the Man a two sets to love lead.
It was going to take a special effort for Federer to re-group and take this match. Wawrinka was the one who looked like the seventeen-time Grand Slam winner as he struck commanding serve after commanding serve followed by winning groundstrokes. The absence of any successful net play from Federer was due to the authoritarian play from Wawrinka.
The third set came down to the tie-break and it was to be a test of Wawrinka’s nerves and ability to close out a historic win over one of the greatest players of all time. Wawrinka rose to the occasion and showed why he belongs with the best players in the sport. He didn’t play tentatively because he knew that Federer would pounce on anything which was not commanding. He quickly raced to a 6-3 lead and on his second match point he bludgeoned a forehand down the line and put away the volley for one of the biggest wins of his career.
For Wawrinka, this match could be the springboard which launches him to a second Grand Slam title. He only made 54% of his first serves today but managed to win 88% of these points. When you’re making these kind of conversions tennis is easy. Federer failed to break Wawrinka throughout the whole match. Moreover, he made Federer look very pedestrian; it is unusual for Federer to not be in control of a match and Wawrinka simply took the match out of his hands. He struck 43 winners and forced many errors from Federer.
Wawrinka will be full of confidence going into his semifinal match and has the best opportunity of his career to make a second Grand Slam final. Let’s hope he continues to play the tennis he is playing because it’s a delight to watch. His most-like opponent in the final is the winner of Wednesday’s much-aniticipated Nadal/Djokovic battle. Wawrinka beat both of these men en route to his first Grand Slam title in Melbourne last year. He is playing just as well now as he was then, so we could be in for a cracker of a final if Wawrinka wins his next match.
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