-Toronto, Canada
Stan Wawrinka played arguably his best match since coming back from his knee surgery on Thursday night in Toronto. Only problem, he was playing World No.1 Rafael Nadal.
The two-time Rogers Cup champ rallied from 2-4 down in the second set to defeat Wawrinka 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) in highly entertaining match that lasted two hours and eight minutes. Wawrinka definitely showed signs of his old self but it wasn’t enough as the Spaniard connected on some big shots at key times.
The crowd on Centre Court got their moneys worth from both players. Nadal hit several powerful forehand winners while Wawrinka’s onehanded backhand was on target.
Both players had chances to break in their opening service games of the first set but neither managed to do so. Then the rains came with Nadal up 6-5 which delayed the match for approximately 45 minutes.
When they resumed, it was Nadal who hit a beautiful slice backhand past Wawrinka at the net to create a break point. Then Wawrinka hit a forehand into the net and the set belonged to the top seed. 19 unforced errors the blemish for the three-time Grand Slam champ.
In the second set Nadal looked like he might cruise to the finish line breaking the former World. No 3 in the second game. But “Stan the Man” stepped up his game and got the break back with a vintage one handed rocket down the line. After holding serve Wawrinka broke Nadal again after the French Open champ hit a forehand long.
In the seventh game, the shot of the match came from Wawrinka. Nadal’s overhead caught the 33-year old off guard but Wawrinka ran back and hit a crazy somewhat unconventional forehand down the line sending the crowd into a frenzy.
Wawrinka was up a break 5-4 in the second set but some sloppy play from the Swiss star got him in trouble, A backhand volley sailed long and then another forehand went long as well and Nadal broke back to 5-5.
A tiebreak was needed to settle the second set winner and it was Nadal who was just too much for Wawrinka. He won four of the final five points the last one a dazzling forehand crosscourt winner.
Nadal is off to his fourth Masters 1000 quarter-final of the year. One step closer to adding to his all-time leading 32 in total. He is also now 17-3 all-time in head to head meetings with Wawrinka.
Nadal will now face Marin Cilic in the quarter-finals on Friday.
@SportsHorn
