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Wowrinka stuns Murray in French Open semis
Stan Wawrinka became the oldest French Open finalist in 44 years on Friday with an epic 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7/3), 6-1 win over world number one Andy Murray.
Paris: Stan Wawrinka became the oldest French Open finalist in 44 years on Friday with an epic 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7/3), 6-1 win over world number one Andy Murray.
At 32 years and 75 days, Stan Wawrinka is the oldest finalist at Roland Garros since Nikola Pilic in 1973.Wawrinka won the clay-court major in 2015, beating Novak Djokovic, and also counts triumphs at the 2014 Australian Open and 2016 US Open in his major haul.
By reaching the final in Paris, Wawrinka is guaranteed to go to No. 3 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, meaning Djokovic will slip to No. 4. Should he win the title, he would go to a new career-high No. 2.
It was sweet revenge for the 2015 champion who was beaten by the Briton at the same stage in Paris last year.US Open champion Wawrinka triumphed in a pulsating 4 hour 34 minute battle of shotmaking and endurance and will target a fourth Slam title on Sunday.
Stan Wawrinka won the fourth set against Andy Murray 7-6 (3), which was quite different to the third set, which included five breaks of serve. Neither faced a break point in the fourth.Wawrinka won the tiebreaker with his 72nd winner.Murray went into the set leading 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-5. Earlier, the Murray won the first set 7-6 (6) and Wawrinka won the second 6-3.
Wawrinka did not look back in the fifth set. Almost unstoppable, the Swiss surged into a double-break lead. Murray tried to fire himself up and stem the momentum against him, but it was to no avail as Wawrinka broke again. Murray held off defeat momentarily with a break in the sixth game, but succumbed in the following game as Wawrinka rifled a backhand winner up the line.
But they both delivered their finest tennis in front of an enthralled Philippe Chatrier Crowd in a match lasting four hours and 34 minutes, and decided, fittingly, with the 87th winner from Wawrinka’s racquet. The story of the match could be seen quite simply from the winners-unforced error stats: 87-77 for Wawrinka, 36-36 for Murray.
