By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Stan Wawrinka did not drop serve sweeping Roger Federer for the first time in five major meetings to reach his first Roland Garros semifinal.
Photo credit: Roland Garros
Beaten up in baseline exchanges, Roger Federer faced Stan Wawrinka's challenge with a forward charge. Unleashing a surprise serve-and-volley, he was barely at the service line when Wawrinka blasted a forehand with such velocity Federer slipped and fell to the court trying to catch up to the blurring ball.
Rising to his feet, Federer stared at the red clay beneath him wearing the unsettled expression of a man arriving home to find all his furniture rearranged. All that was once so familiar suddenly seemed so out of place.
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Wawrinka displaced his friend at the start and barely gave him a sniff on serve overpowering Federer from the backcourt, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (4), and roaring into the Roland Garros semifinals for the first time
It was Wawrinka's first Grand Slam win over Federer in five major meetings.
"It's a combination of things; mostly it's because of Stan's quality of shotmaking, forehand, backhand, serving big when he had to," Federer said in his post-match press conference. "For me it was trying to hang on, trying to find a way making sure the match doesn't go away too quickly...For him obviously it's great to be in the semifinals now. I thought he played really good tennis out there today."
The man wearing the funky red checkered shorts that looked like they've been cut from a table cloth dressed down the stylish 2009 champion by dictating with his serve and first strike. Wawrinka won 88 percent of his first-serve points, denied all four break points he faced and did not face a break point during the final two sets of this all-Swiss clash.
Wawrinka snapped an 11-match losing streak against Federer to win his first Masters crown at Monte Carlo last year amid similar slow conditions. On the surface, the blustery wind would seem to favor Federer, the smoother mover and more versatile player who had dominated his sometime practice partner keeping the ball out of his strike zone in winning 16 of their prior 18 meetings.
None of that mattered much to Wawrinka.
Showing no trace of baggage from years of losses, Wawrinka blasted through the bluster and his opponent's defense. The 30-year-old set the tone testing Federer in a six-minute opening game. Though the second seed survived that game, Wawrinka rocketed a backhand pass breaking at love in the third game, sparking a surge of eight consecutive points.
Saving set point in the eighth game, Federer earned double break point in the ninth. Wawrinka responded. Hammering his forehand down the line, Wawrinka drew another netted backhand sealing the first set with a clenched fist. The 2014 Australian Open champion hit more than twice as many winners (20 to 8) in the opener than Federer, who struggled to exploit his compatriot's defensive return position eight feet behind the baseline.
Fending off a pair of break points, Federer held to open the second set. The thumping pace of Wawrinka's shots muted Federer's versatility. The slice backhand Federer sometimes play short in the court to displace opponents did not disrupt Wawrinka's rhythm as he continued to blister the backhand side drawing the mid-court ball. Wawrinka broke for a 4-3 second-set lead then broke again to seize a two-set advantage.
Trying to energize himself and the rouse crowd in the third set, Federer threw down a love hold for 5-all then bounced up and down behind the baseline showing Wawrinka he was still ready for battle. Wawrinka worked through a dicey 11th game, crunching a 136 mph serve into the hip and screaming "come on!" after holding at 30 for 6-5.
As the tie break began, the Court Suzanne Lenglen crowd showered the favorite with encouragement singing out in a rhythmic chant of "Roger! Roger!" Controversy intruded the chorus with the tie break deadlocked at 3-3. Wawrinka plastered a forehand right off the baseline. The shot was initially called out, but chair umpire Kader Nouni inspected the mark, called the shot good and awarded the point to Wawrinka for a 4-3 lead rather than ruling a replay.
Federer briefly discussed the decision with Nouni, who was also in the chair when Victoria Azarenka hit a drive off the baseline that was incorrectly called out against Serena Williams in the third round. In that match, Nouni ruled a replay of the point saying the call hindered Williams's strike. In this case, Nouni called it a clean winner giving Wawrinka the crucial first mini-break.
Lashing an inside-out forehand to spread the court, Wawrinka fired a forehand winner down the line for triple match point. Federer saved the first with a forehand strike down the line. It was a temporary reprieve. Wawrinka slammed an approach into the corner then blocked a forehand volley sliding to a stop just before touching net to wrap up a high-quality performance of power tennis embracing his friend at net.