Stan Wawrinka Edges Andy Murray to Set All-Swiss Semi-Final Repeat in London - UBITENNIS
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Stan Wawrinka Edges Andy Murray to Set All-Swiss Semi-Final Repeat in London

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Call him WOW-rinka. Stan Wawrinka beats a spirited Andy Murray in straight sets 7-6(4) 6-4 to advance to the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Finals for the third straight year in a total of three appearances. Murray almost completed a terrific comeback from 2-5 down in the second set. Against Roger Federer, Wawrinka will compete in a repeat of the 2014 semi-final in London, when he lost to his compatriot after holding 4 match points.

 

 

A third straight semi-final in three participations since 2013 is not a common thing to achieve at the ATP World Tour Finals. Stan Wawrinka, has managed to reach the feat. Finding major glimpses of his best tennis, the Swiss has somehow found his way to the last 4 at the O2 Arena, for an impressive triplet not many had saw coming at the start of the tournament. The feat puts Stan very close to players like Novak Djokovic (3 titles in a row and 4th semifinal in 4 years) and Roger Federer (7th semifinal in a row at the O2 since 2009) who have made history for the tournament since it got moved to central London six years ago.

It could be the slower surface at the O2 Arena, which makes the indoor court quite similar to the red clay which brought him his second Grand Slam title this year. It could be the fact that there is no wind to interfere. It could be that the atmosphere at the O2 awakens all motivations and will. Whatever it is that works as a switch to turn on Wawrinka’s tennis at the ATP Finals, has functioned again.

Stan stayed strong until the very end in the match he ended up winning after almost two hours against Andy Murray. Down 2-4 in the tie-break in the first set he won 5 points in a row. Up 5-2 in the second set, he saw a spirited Murray come back to 4-5 and 15-40 on Wawrinka’s serve. Once again, despite the odds and a fully loud British crowd, the French Open champion kept his focus and was brave enough to go for his shots when he needed them the most.

Not a great day on serve for the Swiss, who closed with just 45% of first serves on court, but managing to win 67% of the points played on those first serves. Wawrinka finished the match relying on his second serve, proving to have made a step forward in terms of mental strength and quality. The Swiss collected his 7th win against Murray. Still behind in the all-time Head2Head record by 7-8, Wawrinka has beaten the Brit three times in a row now. The last time Murray has taken a set, and the match, away from the Swiss was in Tokyo in 2012, then Andy won 6-2 3-6 6-2 in the QF.

Now, in the semi-finals, Stan will have a chance to avenge the loss he faced last year in the same arena against friend and compatriot Roger Federer. In the best match of last year’s Finals, Stan lost 6-4 5-7 7-6(6) to Federer after holding 4 match points. Now Stan will have a shot at redemption in a season that saw him find the continuity he never had before on the most important tournaments on tour. With a personal record of 21 victories and 3 defeats in Grand Slam tournaments, and 3 titles (Chennai, Rotterdam and Roland Garros), the Swiss will most likely be closing his second consecutive season among the top 4 ranked players in the world.

With Wawrinka, three of last year’s four semifinalists will be once again in action at the ATP Finals, with runner-up Federer and 3-time champion Djokovic bidding to set a reply of the final that last year wasn’t played in London.

 

MATCH REPORT

(4) Stan Wawrinka (SUI) b. (2) Andy Murray (GBP) 7-6(4) 6-4
Match time: 1 hour and 54 minutes

 

O2 Arena, London
RR Barclays ATP World Tour Finals

 

Head-2-Head = Murray leads 8-6

Last Match: US Open QF 2013 S. Wawrinka b. A. Murray 6-4 6-3 6-2

 

Who wins qualifies as No.2 in the Ilie Nastase group

Group winner: Rafael Nadal

Stan Wawrinka starts the match on serve

 

THE FIRST SET

 

The first game gets to deuce with Wawrinka on serve. The Swiss has his first game points up 40-15, thanks to a forehand drop volley winner. Stan needs to win two extra points at 40-40 to hold serve without facing a break point.

 

Murray starts his service game closing the point at the net with a forehand volley. Wawrinka responds with an attack and a forehand volley himself. The Scot wins the game holding serve to 15.

 

In the third game Andy Murray is the first player to see a break point chance as the Scot wins an incredible point. With Wawrinka at the net attacking on Murray’s forehand, the Brit manages to stretch his arm to the ball and put a passing shot right on the baseline.

 

Here is the shot:

The Scot calls the crowd in for cheering. The O2 responds with the loudest noises of excitement in the match. Wawrinka saves the break point with an ace, but Murray manages to have another chance insisting on the Swiss’s backhand, pushing Wawrinka to hit in the net. Stan saves the second break point with another first serve on Murray’s forehand. Even just putting on court 40% of first serves, Wawrinka survives the scare and holds to lead 2-1.

 

The intensity is high, as both players know the semi-finals at the ATP Finals are at stake. For those questioning Murray’s motivation the answer has already been sent, blatant, by the Scot.

On the stands, Wawrinka has full support today in London, as both his girlfriend Donna Vekic and his ex wife and son are cheering for him:

moglie

Photo credit: OKTennis

In the following game Wawrinka has a chance up 0-30 on Murray’s serve. The Swiss attacks full power with his backhand, and forces Murray to miss first. Putting more spin in the ball and catching Stan off-guard, Murray comes back to 30-30 in the game. Andy insists on hitting on Wawrinka’s forehand, but the choice doesn’t pay off. Stan fires a cross court winner and has his first break point of the match at 30-40. Murray saves the break chance with a deep first serve. Just like Wawrinka in the previous game, Murray uses his first serve to escape the danger zone and holds to tie the score at 2-2.

 

Wawrinka holds to love in the following game and keeps the lead up 3-2. Murray responds holding to love to set the score at 3-3. Murray has won 9 out of 10 points on his first serve. Wawrinka is now more confident on his serve, pushing the percentage of first serves to close to 50% now. The Swiss holds to 15 closing the last point of the game with a volley smash winner. Stan leads 4-3 after 31 minutes. Murray has 6 winners, Wawrinka 9 so far.

 

Murray faces another threat serving in the 8th game. The Brit hits his first double fault in the match to trail back 0-30 in his service game. The Swiss steps onto court in the following point, attacking with his forehand and pushing Murray to hit in the net. Down 0-40 on his serve, Murray faces 3 break points. On the first break point, the Scot hits a winning forehand volley on the attack. On his second chance, Wawrinka stays strong in a long rally played in the middle of the court. Murray misses his backhand first and Wawrinka breaks to lead 5-3 and serve for the set.

 

Wawrinka gets to 30-15 with a serve and volley winner that hits the back of the baseline. Murray responds with a stunning forehand cross court defensive shot that becomes a winner. At 30-30 Stan succumbs to tension, hitting his 3rd double fault in the match to face a break point at 30-40. Wawrinka saves the break point pushing Murray to miss again. Sustained by the crowd, the Scot steps on court on the following point, winning the rally with a backhand drop volley winner to get another break chance, his third in the match. Murray plays an impressive point on defence, scrapping, sending every ball back on a 15-shot rally. In the end, the Scot finishes off with a winning forehand, with Wawrinka left in no man’s land. Murray is back in the set at 4-5, breaking Wawrinka’s serve for the first time on his 4th chance.

 

Here the incredible rally won by the Scot:

 

Serving to stay in the set, Murray holds to 15 and completes comeback. The Scot gets back to 5-5.  Wawrinka regroups in time to stay in the set. The Swiss holds to love to regain the lead at 6-5 after 51 minutes. Murray doesn’t tumble in the following game, holding serve at 15 and sending the set to a deciding tie-break.

 

On the first point Wawrinka gets called a first serve out. The Swiss calls for the Hawk-Eye and is right, turning the call and winning the first point with an ace. With great defensive skills, Murray wins both points on his serve and leads for the first time in the match 2-1 in the tie-break. Murray solidifies the lead with a stunning backhand inside-out return winner for a mini-break and a 3-2 lead. The Scot insists on Wawrinka’s backhand, hitting high balls on the last inches of the court. Wawrinka misses and Murray wins his 11th point out of the 16 played on rallies with 10 or more shots. The Scot misses an easy forehand on the following point, hitting in the net. Wawrinka “breaks” for the first time in the tie-break as Murray leads 4-3. A second serve on Andy’s body sends Stan back in the set. The Swiss completes the comeback and sets the score tied at 4-4. Murray hits a backhand return just wide and Wawrinka regains the lead up 5-4. The home-favourite fails under pressure again. Andy misses an easy forehand wide and Stan is the first player to reach set points at 6-4. Murray misses again, with Wawrinka at the net, the Scot’s tentative of a lob shot finishes both long and wide. After 1 hour and 6 minutes, Wawrinka wins the first set 7-6(4) winning the last 5 points in a row.

 

Murray closes the set with 15 winners and the same number of unforced errors. Wawrinka finishes with 15 winners and 17 unforced errors.

 

The tournament’s supervisor enters the court to speak with Murray during the changeover. The Scot is heard complaining about the noise and “running to the net instead of walking”. Not very clear what bothers the Scot.

 

 

THE SECOND SET

 

The second set starts with a break point chance for Wawrinka on Murray’s serve. The Swiss fires a forehand winner down the line at 30-30. On the break point, Murray hits an easy forehand in the net as Wawrinka breaks in the first game to lead 1-0.

 

Staying strong on serve, Wawrinka manages to solidify the lead and is up 2-0. The match at this point seems very much over. Murray however, refuses to give up easily. The Scot holds serve in the third game and manages to get to deuce with Wawrinka serving at 2-1. Despite the unexpected comeback turns the 02 Arena back in full-loudness mode, the sparkle fades soon. Wawrinka stay strong on serve, finds his first service when he needs it the most and closes the game to lead 3-1. Murray responds with a service hold to love. The match will be played on Wawrinka’s serve now.

 

Wawrinka holds serve easily in the 6th game and has a chance to close the match in advance with Murray serving down 2-4, firing a stunning backhand down the line passing shot to get to 0-30. The Scot survives thanks to a progression that hits the baseline and an incredible central second serve on which Wawrinka doesn’t return on court. The Swiss has another chance at 30-40. Facing his 5th break point in the match, Murray seems exhausted as he hits a forehand in the middle of the net to get broken for the third time. Wawrinka leads 5-2 and goes on to serve for the match.

Serving for the match, Wawrinka faces three consecutive break points down 0-40. The Swiss saves the first two serving well. Murray’s lack of brilliance makes the Scot miss also his third chance. Wawrinka keeps the match alive, hitting a tired forehand in the middle of the net to face the 4th break point in the match. Murray wins an incredible point, closing with a winning smash after an impressive defence from Wawrinka. The Scot breaks and trails back 3-5.

Wawrinka seems momentarily lost, as he hits a backhand easy volley in the net with Murray serving in the 9th game. The Scot goes on supported by the crowd and holds serve to love to send Wawrinka serving for the match a second time.

Murray uses the crowd to find extra energy in his tank. The Scot has incredibly another chance, with Wawrinka hitting a backhand wide to fall behind 0-30. Wawrinka pushes with his shots despite the tension, forces with his forehand to push Murray to hit in the net. At 15-30 Murray hits a backhand return down the line, on which Wawrinka hits a defensive forehand in the net. The Swiss is down 15-40 and can’t find his first serve. Stan finds courage to attack with his forehand and force Murray to hit in the net. The Brit touches his back in pain after missing the last shot.

Andy misses a forehand just long on his second break point chance and sets Wawrinka two points away from the match. Wawrinka attacks on the following point, comes to the net and closes the point with a winning smash. Murray smashes and destroys his racket in frustration as Stan has his first match point.

Murray’s racket smash:

Wawrinka attacks with his forehand again, but misses inches long wasting his first chance of closing the match. The drama goes on, as Wawrinka hits a second serve called out, which happens to be in as revealed by Hawk-Eye. On the following point, Murray kills a backhand in the net.

Wawrinka has a second match point. The Swiss fails to put the first serve on court, but wins the point as Murray hits a backhand wide. After 1 hour and 54 minutes Stan Wawrinka reaches his third consecutive semi-final at the O2 Arena.

The match stats:

Screen Shot 2015-11-20 at 22.24.39

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Alexander Zverev Deserves More Respect According To Boris Becker

According to Boris Becker, Alexander Zverev deserves more respect from tennis journalists.

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Alexander Zverev (@WeAreTennis - Twitter)

Boris Becker has claimed that Alexander Zverev deserves more respect despite Zverev failing to live up to his potential at Grand Slams.

 

Zverev has only reached one Grand Slam final in his career despite being a regular inside the world’s top ten as well as performing at regular ATP events.

This season Zverev played a limited schedule after recovering from an ankle injury but still managed to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals.

However most critics have been loud when judging Zverev’s career as it was looking likely that he would be a regular Grand Slam champion.

The German has failed to live up to expectations but former Grand Slam champion Boris Becker believes Zverev deserves more respect.

Speaking to Eurosport Becker also said that Zverev’s father being the coach is a more than successful approach when it comes to the former US Open finalist’s career, “In my opinion, he doesn’t get enough respect from the tennis experts internationally,” Becker explained.

“They’re all talking about the young three or four, but don’t give Zverev, Medvedev or Rublev enough respect. He’s playing with his fist in his pocket a little bit, wants everyone show that he is not a thing of the past, but that his best time is yet to come.

“Surely his father knows best what is good for his son, but if you look into the box at the competition, you can also see changes.”

Becker has followed Zverev for most of his career so knows that the best is yet to come from the German.

Alexander Zverev will look to prove himself next season when he starts his 2024 season when he represents Germany at the United Cup.

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Juan Carlos Ferrero Analyses Key Areas For Carlos Alcaraz’s Development

Juan Carlos Ferrero has outlined the next steps in Carlos Alcaraz’s development.

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(@tennisnewsbrazil - Twitter)

Carlos Alcaraz’s coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero has analysed the key areas for the Spaniard’s development heading into the 2024 season.

 

The former world number one’s season has come to an end after a successful year which saw him win the Wimbledon title as well as winning two Masters 1000 titles.

Alcaraz capped off an incredible season by reaching the semi-finals at the Nitto ATP Finals, where he lost to Novak Djokovic.

However there is a long way for the Spaniard to go if he wants to consistently go toe-to-toe with Novak Djokovic.

Speaking to Marca Alcaraz’s coach Juan Carlos Ferrero spoke about the Spaniard’s development and said that Alcaraz is too emotional, “Be more regular in games, not open doors. Sometimes there are mistakes and it is something that we have to improve a lot,” Ferrero commented.

“Although it is true that he opens doors, he always competes well and at the highest level. He knows it, the other day he already said that Novak doesn’t give you one. He has to improve his decision making and he will achieve that with experience. Carlos is very emotional and that sometimes helps him and other times not so much.”

It’s clear Alcaraz’s high-quality is there but to consistently do it against Djokovic is another task altogether as the Spaniard looks to go from strength-to strength next season.

One area that is clearly a priority for Alcaraz is physical conditioning especially considering what happened against Djokovic at Roland Garros earlier in the season.

Ferrero said that will be a clear focus heading into 2024 but couldn’t guarantee that Alcaraz will play a tournament before the Australian Open, “Because of the year and the fatigue he has been in, what he needs is rest and disconnecting for 8-10 days with his friends,” Ferrero stated.

“From there, the thinking must go back to working really hard, strong and well to start very strongly in Australia. One can never be sure of that. Sometimes you play a tournament and it doesn’t go well, you left home too early. There are many ways of thinking.

“This year we haven’t played Australia and he finishes number two. That means there is no urgency to play a tournament early. Carlos is a player who enters competition quickly, you don’t usually see him without rhythm.

“Although it is true that he becomes more dangerous from the round of 16, from the quarter-finals. I am confident that the two exhibition matches and the training sessions will help us play a good tournament.”

Alcaraz will be looking to play the Australian Open which starts on the 15th of January after the Spaniard missed last year’s tournament due to a leg injury.

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Australian Open Chief Confident Nadal Will Play But Kyrgios’ Participation Uncertain

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Nadal RG 2022 by Night (foto @RolandGarros)

The tournament director of the Australian Open says he is ‘certain’ that Rafael Nadal will play at the Grand Slam even though the Spaniard has yet to outline his comeback plans. 

 

Craig Tiley told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday he hopes to receive some clarity over Nadal’s intentions in the next couple of weeks but is confident he will play. However, the tennis official had previously claimed in October that the former world No.1 had already committed to play in the event before his team denied that statement.  

Nadal, who has won 22 Grand Slam titles, hasn’t played a Tour match since his second round defeat at the Australian Open in January due to a hip injury. He was originally expecting to take an eight-week break but the recovery didn’t go to plan and he ended up having surgery. In May he confirmed that he will take an extended break from the sport to heal his body and admitted that retirement next year is a possibility.

“Rafa has been training, I follow him closely, probably every day because he’s a massive drawcard for us,” the Reuters News Agency quoted Tiley as saying. 
“He wants to play, he’s obviously planning on playing. It all depends on how he pulls up.
“Hopefully in the next week or the next two weeks, we get some specific confirmation of that. I’m certain Rafa will be here because he’s not going to want to miss the opportunity to repeat what he did a couple of years ago.”

Earlier this month Nadal confirmed that he intends to return to the Tour but admits that he will continue to experience a degree of pain. Although he has yet to give any information about which tournament he will begin his comeback at. The 2024 season begins during the first week of January.

“I’m well, training, and happy. I’m at a good stage of my life,” atptour.com quoted Nadal as telling reporters in Barcelona.
“Until now I didn’t know if I would play tennis again someday, and now I genuinely believe I will. I’m still not ready to say when, but I’m able to train increasingly longer, and the progress is good.’

Will Kyrgios play?

Another player Tiley is eager to welcome back is home player and former Wimbledon Finalist Nick Kyrgios who has only played one Tour-level match this season due to injury. He underwent knee surgery in January and then tore a ligament in his wrist during the summer. As a result, the Australian currently doesn’t have an ATP ranking due to his inactivity. 

“We have spoken to Nick, and he obviously wants to do the best he possibly can to give him the best chance to play in January,” Tiley said of Kyrgios.
“Whether he’s playing, whether he’s doing something else, Nick will be here in January and to get him to play will be great. But we’ve got to take it as it comes and he’s got to make sure he takes care of his health …” 

Kyrgios recently worked as an analyst for the Tennis Channel during this year’s ATP Finals in Turin and gave a brief update on his ongoing recovery during a segment. 

“After last year, I had such a great year, and I’m so hungry to get back out there,” the 2022 Wimbledon finalist commented.
“So I’m doing everything I can to get back out there. Obviously, you know how injuries are every day, just doing the rehab, doing the gym work.”

The Australian Open will begin on Sunday 14th January. Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka are the defending champions. 

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