Once 0-3 in the head-to-head series, Kevin Anderson beat Stan Wawrinka for the fourth consecutive time on Wednesday at the AEGON Championships. Neither man could break serve a single time, but it was Anderson who got the best of two tiebreakers for a 7-6(4), 7-6(11) victory.
In the first ‘breaker, the unseeded South African led 4-0 before eventually taking care of two crucial service points at 5-4 and 6-4. The second one was far more dramatic, with Anderson squandering five break points–including three in a row starting at 6-3. Wawrinka, meanwhile, failed to convert set points at 8-7, 10-9, and 11-10 (the latter on his own serve). The Swiss struck a forehand error at 11-11 then Anderson finally sealed the deal with his 22nd ace.
“I felt I was serving really well,” the world No. 17 commented. “Grass definitely helps a little bit, especially on some of the wide serves. (I) just kept patient throughout. Especially in that second set, I found I was having quite a few chances on his serve…. Sometimes it’s tricky to refocus on your serve, but I felt I did a really good job with that today.
“I just feel like I play good tennis against him. I can take a lot of confidence from that and take that same sort of belief against some of the other top guys.”
“He was serving big,” Wawrinka assured. “It was tough for me. I was maybe a little bit slow in reaction, tired mentally to always try to get to the ball. But it’s like that. I still think I can take some positives of the match, because in general I was trying to stay with him, trying to be positive all the time and trying to get the win…but didn’t happen.”
Highlights:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_pAjqFTHLU]
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