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By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, July 29, 2016

 
Stan Wawrinka

Insight gleaned from scouting helped second-seeded Stan Wawrinka blitz Kevin Anderson, 6-1, 6-3, to reach his first Rogers Cup semifinal.

Photo credit: Phil Sutherland/Corleve

Stan Wawrinka took a sneak peek at Kevin Anderson's pre-match practice in Toronto today.

Lessons learned from pre-match scouting helped Wawrinka make quick work of the South Africa.

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The second-seeded Swiss broke four times blitzing Anderson, 6-1, 6-3, to roll into his first career Rogers Cup semifinal.

It is Wawrinka's first Masters semifinal of the season and he barely looked stressed in a convincing 73-minute victory.

Past history suggested this could be a tight test.

The pair had split eight prior meetings, including six Masters 1000 meetings. The 31-year-old Swiss defeated the former all American at Montréal in 2011 before Anderson avenged that setback at Toronto in 2014.

An energized Wawrinka beat Anderson to the ball breaking twice in the first three service games bursting out to a 4-1 lead. The lethargic South African struggled to control his forehand and watched Wawrinka torment him on second-serve points.

If it looked like Wawrinka knew what was coming, maybe he did. Afterward, the world No. 5 told ESPN's Brad Gilbert scouting his opponent's pre-match practice had him looking out for the inside-out forehand.

"I was moving really well and I stayed calm when he was really aggressive," Wawrinka told Gilbert. "(In practice), I saw him doing attacking (with his) inside-out forehand. So I start to move a little bit on my backhand. So I did a good job anticipating that shot and make him play a lot of volleys."

The second-seeded lace an ace and thumped a serve winner down the middle stretching the lead to 5-1. By that point, Wawrinka had dropped just one point on his first serve.

Jerking Anderson from side-to-side, Wawrinka drew a backhand error to earn triple set point.

Two points later, Anderson slapped a double-fault off the tape ending an unsightly performance in the 29-minute opener. The South African won just three of 13 second-serve points and doubled Wawrinka's unforced error output (11 to 5) in a sloppy set.

A sweeping backhand pass crosscourt followed by a raised fist gave Wawrinka two break points to open the second set. A methodical Anderson, who was slowing down the pace between points, fought off both holding for 1-all.




Down 15-40 in the ensuring game, Wawrinka whipped a serve winner and an ace wide, restoring order to hold for 2-1.

Quarterfinals have been a stumbling block for the lanky, six-foot-eight Anderson, who fell to 0-7 in career Masters' quarterfinals and lost his seventh straight ATP quarterfinal.

Still, Anderson cranked a 108 mph second serve to save a break point in the eighth game. His forehand failed him when he needed it most. Anderson badly bungled a forehand sitter to face another break point and sailed a forehand donating the break and a 5-3 lead to Wawrinka.

Continuing his quest for his first Rogers Cup final, the world No. 5 will face third-seeded Kei Nishikori in tomorrow's semifinals.

Nishikori turned back 40th-ranked Grigor Dimitrov, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, raising his record to 3-0 against the former world No. 8. Wawrinka has won three of four meetings with the 26-year-old Japanese.


 

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