By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Stan Wawrinka reeled off 10 of the last 12 games overpowering David Ferrer, 7-5, 6-2, at the World Tour Finals.
Photo credit: CameraSport
Bouncing his racquet off the blue court in frustration, Stan Wawrinka struggled to find his range and get a grip at the outset today.
Refocusing on blistering the ball rather than bruising his racquet, Wawrinka bounced back from a sluggish start with a commanding close. Wawrinka reeled off 10 of the last 12 games powering past a shell-shocked David Ferrer, 7-5, 6-2, at the World Tour Finals.
More: Nadal Thumps Murray in London
Hammering deeper strikes as the match progressed, Wawrinka beat Ferrer into submission. The Roland Garros champion more than tripled his opponent's winner output (34 to 10) and won 76 percent of his second-serve points (19 of 25) moving to within one victory of his third straight trip to the World Tour Finals semifinals.
Wawrinka, who looked dispirited and disinterested in his opening loss to Rafael Nadal, will play Andy Murray on Friday for a semifinal spot. Ferrer, who suffered his fifth consecutive WTF round-robin loss dating back to 2013, was eliminated from semifinal contention.
It was a tale of two very different matches. Ferrer played controlled combinations surging out to a 5-2 lead, but failed to serve out the first set and was powerless to stop Wawrinka's roll.
The 33-year-old Spaniard wristed back a 125 mph serve and engaged Wawrinka in a lengthy exchange. When the Swiss sailed a backhand beyond the baseline, Ferrer had the first break for 3-1.
Showing early signs of frustration, Wawrinka bounced his red Yonex racquet off the court after netting a slice backhand. Wawrinka lasered a pair of backhands and bounced his stick a couple more times as a resolute Ferrer backed up the break for 4-1.
Quick off the mark, Ferrer sometimes anticipated direction before Wawrinka completed his stroke. Saving a pair of break points in the seventh game, Ferrer read and reacted to a drop shot, racing forward to poke a forehand pass for 5-2. That slick retrieval provoked applause from the Roland Garros champion.
Serving for the set, Ferrer tightened up and completely lost the plot. He whacked a couple of double faults, put a backhand into the net and netted inside-out forehand to face break point. Empowered, Wawrinka unloaded on a forehand breaking for the first time for 4-5.
Considering Wawrinka is typically content to chip back his returns, it was surprising to see Ferrer plagued by faults at crunch time. He double-faulted away a second straight break giving Wawrinka, who was down 2-5 minutes earlier, a 6-5 advantage.
Successive serve-and-volley winners helped Wawrinka win his fifth straight game serving out the set at love. Wawrinka nearly doubled Ferrer in winners (15 to 8) in the 54-minute opener.
The slide steepened in the opening game of the second set. Wawrinka stepped into the doubles alley crunching a forehand to break for the third time in a row. Wawrinka hits a heavier ball and was playing closer to the lines giving the world No. 7 little to work with in baseline exchanges. Stinging a forehand off the sideline, Wawrinka broke for the fourth time in Ferrer's last five service games for 4-1.
Wawrinka badly bungled an overhead on his second match point to drop to deuce. A flat forehand down the line delivered a third match point. Wawrinka belted a forehand winner that was called good. Replay showed the ball narrowly missed the baseline, but Ferrer had run out of challenges by then and could only shake hands after 93 minutes.