For the second straight year at the World Tour Finals, an all-Swiss semifinal between Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka will take place. The 2014 installment did not disappoint, as Federer outlasted his countryman in a third-set tiebreaker at the end of a heated, controversial battle.
Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka will be facing each other for the 21st time in their careers when they battle for a place in the World Tour Finals title match on Saturday night.
Federer is dominating the head-to-head series 17-3, but what was once the most lopsided and least interesting “rivalries” in all of tennis has reinvented itself over the last 17 months. Wawrinka has won two of their last six meetings–in the 2014 Monte-Carlo final and in the quarters of the French Open this spring.
Their showdown at the same stage of this same event last year will not soon be forgotten. Federer saved five match points before prevailing 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(6), and even the incredibly close scoreline hardly tells the full story. The night featured an alleged on-court shouting match between Wawrinka and Federer’s wife followed by a reported lock-room confrontation between the two players.
Bad blood seems to be a thing of the past for the two Swiss stars, who teamed up one week later in the 2014 Davis Cup final to triumph over France. Off-court drama should be non-existent in this one, but another high-quality contest can be expected. After all, both men emerged from round-robin competition with plenty of reasons to be confident.
Federer swept through Group Stan Smith in undefeated fashion, beating Tomas Berdych, Novak Djokovic, and Kei Nishikori. The 34-year-old dropped only one set–to Nishikori–in the process.
Wawrinka’s participation in the semis looked questionable at best as recently as Wednesday night. The world No. 4 was coming off a 6-3-, 6-2 loss to Rafael Nadal and found himself trailing David Ferrer 5-2 in the first set. Ferrer double-faulted on set point while serving for the opener and got broken to let his opponent back in the match. Ever since that moment, Wawrinka has not looked back. He overcame Ferrer 7-5, 6-2 then beat Andy Murray 7-6(4), 6-4 in a winner-advance, loser-go-home battle on Friday night.
“I had a tough match–two-hours match with a lot of pressure,” Wawrinka commented. “I also feel quite tired. I’m going to be focused on that, try to rest, try to recover and be ready for hopefully a good match…. [Roger] is playing really well. He is always fit; always ready. Last year was an opportunity to beat him [and I didn’t take it].
For a brief stretch during the second set against Murray, Wawrinka found the zone in which he bludgeons every backhand as hard as possible and does not miss. But his play this week has been marked with inconsistency, plagued by too many stretches in which he has borderline disappeared.
The undisputed two best players so far in London have been Nadal and Federer. Wawrinka was unable to overcome his rough patches of tennis against Nadal and he may not be able to against Federer, either.
Pick: Federer in 2
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Reblogged this on Tennis Abides.
who?
who what when where why?
Fed looks good right now…and in the years to come!!!
why would Wawa bring his TWO ladies with him, including his parents, if he thought he would not play well? I expect him to challenge Fed and take a set of him…however, Fed flies on his win over Novak where he played his best…with Nishi he was only a shadow and could have lost easily…
Fed in 3…
is he bringing them both to the semis?
yep, they are right there in his box…isn’t that something?…lovely indeed…
Wawrinka is a playa playa dog
Well we have a match! Stan just broke Fed!
Waw broke.
WaWa’s harem is in the house. But I haven’t spotted Mrs. Federer – maybe she was asked not to attend this evening or she is sitting out of sight 😉
…….or should i say earshot ?
🙂 🙂
Well that didn’t last long. Fed breaks back.
I don’t want Stan to gain any more point so
Vamos Roger!
WaWa is a hair’s breadth from chucking the toys out of his pram
#WheresMirka
http://i41.tinypic.com/2rwwdh0.jpg
Stan throwing his toys out of his pram
I think Stan has stopped trying or does he only do that when being beaten by Rafa?
Mirka was right.
Federer is playing superb. Nole has little chance tomorrow.
Wawrinka’s slam wins were a fluke.
Fed is definitely reinventing himself. He has broken Wawa’s will by S and V ing at will. Will not be surprised if he inflicts another loss on Djoko tomorrow
Not really. Not much different compared to other years he’s won there.
I agree. Fed has always played well on these courts. Stan hasn’t looked great this week. He played better against Murray. Fed was very aggressive in this match, with his serve and volleying and getting to the net as often as possible. Fed loves these indoor courts.
But I don’t know about Novak tomorrow.
https://whyweprotest.net/attachments/toyspram-jpg
Thank you Roger
Stan lost interest. Oh, no. He only does that against Rafa.
Stan had 35 UE’s in 2 sets. Also winning only 38% of second serve points. Playing well? Um, no I don’t think so! 🙂
Mirka is in the house but not in his box
Flashback.
Mrs. Mirka and Waw eye to eye at the 2014 WTF:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B2vuIJpCEAAUUgG.jpg
Listen up people, do you hear there?
Rafans focus on Rafa and pretenders focus on Rafans with nothing to add about Rafa’s game or tennis.
And it makes me wonder.
Koenig and Knowitall have been talking up the SF matches since yesterday – what a treat in store…….what exciting matches we’ll have……
As so often happens, having been bigged up the eagerly anticipated matches are a letdown.
Roger def Stan in 2
http://i57.tinypic.com/iwot3a.jpg
No actually, Stan lost interest in the match. Noooooooooo, that only happens against Rafa.
I think rafa easily losing to nole today has had quite an adverse effect on you and these non-stop pointless references to the Stan match are just an attempt to vent out frustration…..
LOL.
vamosrafa,
I agree. I can understand the need to vent frustration in a reasonable way, but this is really something else. Too bad. Nobody likes to see Rafa lose at any time. I am certainly disappointed in the result. But I am not going to spam this site with this nonsense because I am bummed out.
I wonder what Paul Annacone has to say about this.
Will Roger turn up for the final tomorrow? That is the question.
I didn’t know Switzerland were in the DC final.
I thought it was Britain and Belgium 😉
Today’s Federer would have beaten Today’s Djokovic.
hahahahahahahaha
I think Federer wins Final in straight sets.
I guess that laughter means Ricky will stick with Nole tomorrow.
I think we’re in for a good final. The one we were supposed to have last year.
yup…tough to call…what’s your pick?
Djokovic in 3.
vamosrafa,
It’s a tough one, but I am going with Novak in 3 sets. I truly think this could go either way but if I must make a pick then that’s it.
Sorry wrong thread.
It was not a good performance by Stan, he was in a hurry to get off court, then again he was in a hurry to get off court yesterday but Murray beat him at being bad.
I agree about Stan not playing well against Fed today. He is capable of a lot more when he’s on his game. Murray was worse. Stan was missing shots that he would make in his sleep. It’s true that Fed was being ultra aggressive, but what else is new.
Stan has been out of sorts for a long time and his complicated personal life isn’t helping his cause either. . He’s ready to boil over with frustration at any moment and lash out wildly at crucial moments with disastrous results. Federer played a near flawless match and ruthlessly exploited Stans weaknesses.