The opening set of the match was full of great service performance, neither of the players were getting a break point until deep into the set. Wawrinka was leading 6-5, putting Troicki under pressure. Wawrinka got a 0-40 lead on Troicki’s serve but he saved all 4 break points in the game, so the set headed into the tiebreak. Wawrinka was dominating in the tiebreak, developing a lead of 6-2. Troicki did manage to save 3 set points, but the Swiss took the opening set.
After a quick two breaks in the first two games in the second set, Troicki took the lead to 3-1, and held it until get broken back at 4-2. The second set headed into the tiebreak as well, but this time Troicki was in the lead. The Serb had his first set point at 6-3, but Wawrinka prolonged the set by saving 3 set points and equaling at 6-6. Troicki kept the lead, had a set point at 7-6, but he won the second set tiebreak 9-7.
In the third set, Troicki started to trail off, as he got broken to 3-1. During the changeover, Troicki requested a medical timeout and Wawrinka decided to keep himself warm and entertain the crowd by hitting with a ballboy. This what Stan Wawrinka had to say about the experience:
“I don’t know. I was a little bit bored, was waiting for him, was talking to the ball kid. He told me — I asked him if he was playing tennis. I said, Okay, let’s play.” Wawrinka was then asked about the boy’s future, “Well, he wasn’t afraid to be on the central court. He was a nice kid. We had a little chat. I asked him if he played tennis, and I thought, why don’t we go and hit a few balls. I thought it was nice. It was nice for him. It was fun for the audience, and it kept me busy.”
Wawrinka kept the break in the third set, not having to face a single break point in the set. The Swiss won the set 6-3. He also took an early break in the fourth, and developed a lead of 4-1 with two breaks on Troicki. Wawrinka had to face a couple of break points, but he held on and won the fourth and final set 6-2.
The Swiss shared his thoughts on the match: “Yeah, it was tough first two sets. Tough condition also. Not easy to play your best tennis in general. Really happy with the win, I think. I think it’s a great victory for me. I was trying to just stay calm with myself, find my game all over the match. He start to play really well the third and fourth set.”
Wawrinka’s upcoming opponent in the quarterfinals will be the Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who managed to upset the 8th seed Milos Raonic. Wawrinka has had great stats from this match, with 67 winners and 19 aces. The Swiss now leads the head-to-head 5-0 over Troicki, and this was their first meeting at a grandslam.
