Swiss tennis fans will be forced to pick a side in the semifinals, as Stan Wawrinka and Roger Federer both prevailed in straight set victories on the men’s side on day 9. The former Australian Open champions played scintillating tennis against their opponents on the day, avoiding being dragged into long, dramatic quarterfinal affairs.
Wawrinka defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 6-4 6-3, in a match that featured just four breaks of serve total, with three of them going in Wawrinka’s favor. The Swiss was confident on serve in the first set, and then played more aggressively to take the first set tiebreak. In sets two and three, Tsonga was sloppy enough from the backhand side to give Wawrinka a groundstroke advantage, that he exploited to a victory in just two hours and change.
Federer should be the tournament favorite once the final four is set tonight. The former world #1 eased past Mischa Zverev 6-1 7-5 6-2 in just an hour and a half of tennis. Zverev was at a clear matchup disadvantage with Federer, and he looked worn down from the start. Federer took away Zverev’s shot to take the early ball, and passed him at the net over and over again. Zverev did play well for a set, but the third was more like the first, as the German simply looked tired and proud of what he’d accomplished over the past two weeks in Melbourne, as he started the tournament at #50 in the world.
Venus Williams generated more break point chances for herself, and won a sloppy match against Ana Pavlyuchenkova 6-4 7-6. From 3-3 in the second set tiebreak, Venus won the last four points of the match to gain a straight set victory.
Coco Vandeweghe could join the Williams sisters and make it three Americans in the semifinals. Vandeweghe did her part dominating Garbine Muguruza 6-4 6-0, as the wheels came off for Muguruza after a set.
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