The last semifinal spot at the O2 will come down to the final round-robin match on Friday night when Andy Murray goes up against Stan Wawrinka. Both players are currently 1-1 and the winner will finish second in Group Ilie Nastase behind Rafael Nadal.
Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka will be battling for a place in the semis of the World Tour Finals on Friday night in London.
Shockingly, this is their first meeting in more than two years. They last faced each other at the 2013 U.S. Open, where Wawrinka rolled 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 to make the head-to-head series a more even 8-6 in Murray’s favor. The Scot has won six of their eight hard-court encounters, but their last four such showdowns have been split 2-2. Their only previous indoor collision came seven years ago in Marseille, where Murray prevailed 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-1.
Each man’s round-robin fate at the O2 will be sealed by the outcome of this match. Both Murray and Wawrinka are 1-1, while Rafael Nadal has already wrapped up Group Ilie Nastase at 2-0 (with head-to-head advantages over Murray and Wawrinka), while David Ferrer is eliminated at 0-2. Thus the winner of this title will be the No. 2 qualifier from the foursome.
Murray opened in decent enough form, taking care of Ferrer 6-4, 6-4 on Monday afternoon. Two days later, however, the second seed was reduced to little more than an innocent bystander in a 6-4, 6-1 pasting by Nadal.
Wawrinka is trending in the opposite direction. The third-ranked Swiss seemed lost in just about every way in a 6-3, 6-2 setback against Nadal before recovering to beat Ferrer 7-5, 6-2. Wawrinka continued to struggle early and trailed the Spaniard 5-2 in set one, but he finally found the range and overpowered his opponent the rest of the way en route to a convincing victory.
The principal question heading into this one involves how motivated–or not–Murray is to stick around on an indoor hard court in London instead of going back to clay-court practice in advance of next week’s Davis Cup final between Great Britain and Belgium. The British No. 1 spent the previous week honing his game on the slow stuff, made a successful surface transition against Ferrer, but then looked borderline lifeless versus Nadal.
Count Wawrinka among those pondering the answer.
“It’s tough to say what he’s thinking,” the reigning French Open champion said of Murray. “If he’s completely focused or not. If he’s already thinking too much about Davis Cup. It’s impossible to know exactly what we can expect from him for Friday. For sure if I look the match today, I think was a little bit flat. For sure the fact he practiced so much after Paris on clay to get the rhythm doesn’t help him to feel completely fresh this week. We’ll see.”
Based on the Davis Cup factor and their respective performances on Wednesday, Wawrinka has to like his chance. And he may do Murray a favor by sending him on his way to Belgium.
Pick: Wawrinka in 3
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When Stan is winning he plays well when he is losing he cries like a baby and throws his toys out of his pram.
Even though Rafa might not visit this site, I think that Mirka might.
I wonder what a certain occularly challenged secretary would say about this if I had said it.
@9:57 pm
—might not visit this site, I think that Mirka might.—
===
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Oh, now I understand – that’s why someone has made huge attempts to justify her behavior at the 2014 WTF! 😆
(Mrs. Mirka couldn’t keep her mouth shut during the Fed-Waw match at the WTF and called Wawrinka ‘crybaby’ after he complained about that.)
Listen up people, do you hear there?
Someone thinks that being a fanatical secretary has to make them understand about a Rafan and yet it’s nobody’s business.
I’m curious why you don’t criticize your blind fanatical “fan” when we both say the same thing?
And it makes me wonder.
Koenig is in full flow. He was pretty even-handed until Andy messed up in the TB now he is in ecstasy over WaWa
I pity you to have to listen to him and Knowitall.
Robbie is being quite supportive of Rafa at the moment so he isn’t on my black list for the moment but Knowitall gets more painful by the day.
Robbie did coin one of my favourite phenomenadal phrases, phor sure, no?
^^ phavourite
Muzz gets a break back — not over yet!
It appears that Stan has played himself into some decent form in this tournament. I got home after the first set and have seen most of the second set. Finally Andy got one break back. Can he get something going here?
It’s all very uncertain at this point. There for awhile, I thought Andy would go for it — even if Stan is playing better than vs Rafa, but let’s see if Stan can serve it out…
One thing I did want to say was that Darren Cahill said that they should changed the surface for this tournament. Brad Gilbert joined in and agreed. Cahill said they could have it be on clay. But they both agreed that the surface should be changed up. That surprised me because it’s what Rafa has been saying.
Murray holds his serve and Stan will have another shot at serving for the match.
Ooh! 0-30!
Can Andy break Stan again?
Fail better Stan!
It was IN! Stan almost robbed again…tsk, tsk…
It was a little odd. But Stan is our semifinal man.
I keep trying to find something to like about WaWa. It’s not his sportsmanship that’s for sure. I trust Federer will pull him down a peg or to tomorrow.
Yeah, I’m not a crybaby fan either.
With that said….
Allez Crybaby!!!!
Absolutely knew you’d be in possession of that avatar!
What puzzles me is what any woman sees in him. I gather Baby Doll and his former wife were both at the O2 this evening.
Got it from pseudoFed.
[polldaddy poll=9191383]
And there it is like magic. A Polldaddy poll. Okay I’m off the fence, can’t resist. Stan’s revenge in 3.
THE biggest anti jinx pick of the day!
You’re probationary period is over.
Welcome to the Gang… I…. I mean Club.
ed,
You made me laugh so hard with that question! I think you said what many of us are thinking! 🙂
He’s not exactly a favorite but sometimes I can’t help liking his tennis, He does have the best one handed backhand on tour. Loved Henin’s too.
Andy sent for the supervisor to complain that Stan was taking too long to challenge.
ed, it’s a question that I’ve pondered as well but they say beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
That was some ugly stuff from Murray. He had his chances to tie it up in that second set. But overall Stan played better, although he did really get tight near the end. I don’t know if it’s going to be good enough to beat Fed.
The tennis channel wasn’t showing the match, so I checked out ESPN and low and behold, they were showing it. They are taking over from this point on.
That happened to me yesterday, NNY! I got caught out watching some tennis profile on TC for a set of the 2nd singles match! ESPN must have WTF for the weekend..
ratcllff,
Oh, it’s good to know that I am not the only one. I saw the discussion here and checked the score online, so I knew the match was still going on. Then it just hit me that maybe it was on ESPN. So I went to that channel and there it was!
I don’t know how they expect people to know that they will be stepping in to broadcast the WTF matches from the semis to the end. Rafa and Ferrer were on the tennis channel this morning, so that made it even more confusing.
Yes, ESPN said that they will be showing the semifinal matches tomorrow. So I will know which channel to watch! 🙂
As far as H2H goes for Stan and Fed, looking at their overall doesn’t count. I go by Stan post AO 2014: 4-2 Fed ( or anyone else for that matter). Clay wins, okay, but Stan is starting to look comfortable on these indoor conditions, as he did in Paris getting to the semi’s there; plus, he was swinging more freely v Andy. Magnus Norman will prepare his charge successfully.
One of those Fed H2H wins was Wimbledon 2014. Fed had to win it in 4. Solid effort.
Rome 2015 doesn’t count because that was a difficult time for Stan.
US Open 2015 too, affected by a sledge.
WTF 2014 year ago needs avenging.
Therefore, all losses to Fed can be seen as questionable.
Your antijinxings are simply superior to Mine.
Did it please you?
Please capitalize “you” in future royal inquires.
And yes, it was pleasing.
What did I tell you…Wawa not committed?! Wawa not interested?! nope…Wawa outplayed by Rafa?! Yes… 🙂
and those TWO beautiful ladies in the box supporting him…wow…he sure will fight in the semis…that’s gonna be an interesting one…
No. Wawrinka will return true to his first match form against his Daddy.
If he does win, look for Majesty to become a temporary fan for a while.
Help me here, there are too many possibilities here that fit “Majesty”. To whom do you refer? Yourself, Ricky, Nadline perhaps?
Majesty refers to Majesty in the third person.
Very well thank you, Majesty. You are inspiring, Majesty. Have just remembered something. A good sign.
You’re welcome My fan.
#Humb1e
The tennis channel commentators talked about how Stan just disappeared against Rafa in the second set of their match. But what do they know! Jim Courier and Paul Annacone know a thing or two about what goes on during a match. They have no reason to lie!
But some people just cannot let it go. Bringing it up over and over, trying to make the same inaccurate point over and over about how Stan played in that match with Rafa. If anyone thinks that 35 UE’s in a 2 set match with 38% second serve points won, is a true reflection of Stan’s game, then they must be living in another universe.
no, the reason why I brought it up is people saying how Stan did not care, how he was uninterested and did not respect people paying moneys to watch the match. Stan responded to those accusations by saying that they should have been in his shoes to know how it was difficult to fight against Rafa’s top spins…Stan was obviously neutralized in that match and could not hit his natural winners…why don’t people admit that? Why saying that Stan disappeared and then went on to win both matches against tough opponents one of which is current No2…
I understand the so called experts who will attack Stan because they expected Stan to make a thriller of it and beat a non-confident Rafa at the end…they did not expect Rafa to come up with good tactics that worked against Swiss…but what I can not understand is people constantly ignoring the fact that Stan was outplayed by Rafa…
Yesterday, in the second set against Ferry Rafa had first serve % of as low as 46% and yet won the set…Wawa had 1st serve % in the match with Andy at LOW 45% and WON the match…so it means nothing…obviously Wawa was out of his comfort zone when playing Rafa and that’s it…you will just have to live with it and let it go…if you do not like me saying that then just ignore it…
nats, I too feel frustrated that Rafa is being undermined. Had Nole beaten Stan with that scoreline the same people would be worshipping at his altar saying he’s got no weaknesses and Stan couldn’t compete with him.
Stan knew Rafa had neutralised his game plan that’s why he kept berating his bench because their strategy wasn’t working. Why are people so reluctant to see that Rafa beating Stan is the norm, their h2h going into that match was 15:3.
When Stan is on the back foot, he sulks. He started sulking against Ferrer but Ferrer handed him the 1st set by failing to serve for it and he capitalised on it.
The commentators have their own agenda. Miles Maclagan said that wasn’t the match they were expecting so they are just disappointed.
#Djokovic is the Holy Grail in some people’s eyes
how is paul annacone a so-called expert? :s the guy is damn good.
Stan was outplayed by Rafa, of course . I was there watching it live. Very excited. But, no secret that stan was misfiring that day. He missed some really easy forehand and yeah, in the end he was just going for DTL forehands just for the sake of ending points. In the presser he said ‘it was just a bad day in the office’. It was a combination of both things. Stan is a heavyweight baseliner so not easy to blow him off the court like that. Rafa was very good that day but it was not like vintage rafa to be honest.
Some people just can’t bear the fact that Rafa won his group 3:0 and their supreme god – Djokovic – lost a match. That’s why they are trying to take away from Rafa’s win over Stan.
No, djokovic was GOOD againt Nishikori but the lopsided scoreline was because nishikori was misfiring a lot. It was a combination of nishikori misfiring and djokovic being solid. Usually that’s how it is.
natashao2013 ( at 10:59 am),
Well said!
Djokovic fans are licking their wounds that Rafa out performed him in the RR stage.
Vamos Rafa!
Before the tournament, I had picked rafa to go 3-0 in his group and djokovic 2-1 in his ….. LOL LOL
which djokovic fans? can’t see any posting here….
Actions speak louder than words. Some people who claim to be Rafa fans spend a lot of their time putting him down. Why can’t they just say they don’t admire him as a player? Instead of celebrating his great win, why spend time trying to pour cold water on it? No fan behaves like that.
If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it is a duck.
The words ‘analyzing a match’ are beyond your comprehension? I celebrated a lot but I also have fun discussing tennis. I did not celebrate when federer beat djokovic because I don’t care but I analyzed the match because I like that. It was again a combination of Fed playing very well and Novak not too well. Same goes for pretty much every match. haven’t had the time, otherwise, I would be previewing more matches with Ricky because I like doing that .
Celebrating as a fan and analyzing a match are two totally different things.
Analyzing a match doesn’t mean you should ignore the facts. It’s not something that happens on the odd occasion, it happens far too frequently that’s why I try my best to avoid reading some comments.
No Rafa fan who has been waiting all year for him to get into form will watch that match and write it off as Stan not trying.
I didn’t see anyone analyzing the Djokovic/Kei match.
taking facts into accounts from both sides is one vital part of analyzing a match. I hope this helps.
Bias doesn’t help.
bias towards rafa? yeahhhh I know…. but that’s how it is for us rafa fans who also love analyzing.
The difference between TX and TG is that on TX if you’re a Rafan, you’re not a tennis fan while on TG if you’re a tennis fan you’re not a real Rafan.
#ToughCrowds
Yes. I believe a post of mine was out of order and justly moderated during said Rafa match. Mea Culpa. Thank you.
Really? Here or TX.
For a while, Ricky had any comments with the word “hawkeye” automatically sent to moderation.
It was one of Majesty’s proudest of moments. Very pleasing.
Have no idea about TX. Didn’t post or read there today. Only posted here. When I do post on TX, my posts only get moderated when using certain arbitrary words. It’s hard to tell. “doping” talk will do it. Using “Nationalistic” I believe got a post deleted. It’s random, dear Hawkey. Very rare to get a post completely deleted, though. I took note but it was nothing important.
@11:35 pm,
On TG, if you are a Rafan – you are not a true/real tennis fan in the eyes of self-named true/real tennis. Suits me fine! 😆
I add this to my post @11:49pm:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CUSxSb1WoAAVu5s.png:medium
yeah, it is different to be a fanatic about rafa+rafa’s tennis (which many here including me and hawkeye are) and be a fanatic about rafa only (evidenced in the form of zero discussions of RAFA’s tennis. So, that is the crux of what hawkeye is saying.
Listen up people, do you here there?
There are many respectful true Rafans here like NNY, VR, chloro, lucky star, natashao, ed, shireling, and some I’ve forgotten to mention.
There are just a few blind Rafans according to Majesty the Tennis Fan.
And it makes me wonder.
I’ve never seen one single post from The Blind Secretary (BS for short) that commented on Rafa’s actual tennis.
vamosrafa (at 12:00 am),
I am wondering, if you going to pollute this thread with the same topic you started in the Rafa &Ferru thread.
exactly!!! rafan(atic) about what? his looks? his hair? his daily/weekly routine and schedules?:S his tennis does not even get discussed !!
I am wondering who is posting links to screenshots from 1962.
Listen up people, do you here there?
A blind secretary still hasn’t ever commented on Rafa’s actual game.
And it makes me wonder.
As for me, I believe that I’m entitled to be or not to be a fan(atic) if I so wish, and it’s none of self-named true/real tennis fans’ business. 🙂
Listen up people, do you here there?
Some believe that a fanatic or not a fanatic is entitled to be disrespectful by wondering and being curious about their quality as a Rafan yet being unable to say anything about Rafa’s game ever.
And it makes me wonder.
hawkeye, vr and native, please stop your attacks. Stick to tennis.
Whatevs Mary Rafa is the best.
Ricky is the moderator here. That’s not your job.
I have every right to tell you to cease and desist when you are making this site unpleasant. . It is not your job to decide what I can say. You are not the moderator.
No you are harassing myself, vamosrafa and hawkeye with your rude and erroneous comments. There are site rules here now and you can’t just go after people for no reason. You do not have the right to tell anyone what they can or cannot say. That’s Ricky’s job because it’s his site.
Please stop parroting what I am saying and stop instigating. I am done with this conversation and will not answer if you choose to continue with your insults and disrespect.
nativenewyorker7 (at 5:57 am),
— You do not have the right to tell anyone what they can or cannot say.—
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This applies to you too, NNY!
Andy Murray says his team can be a distraction after ordering them away for clash with Stan Wawrinka at The O2
Andy Murray lost 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 to Stan Wawrinka at ATP World Tour Finals
World No 2 Murray was knocked out in the round-robin stage at The O2
Murray showed signs of frustration on the court at his performance, smashing his racket towards the end of the match
By STUART FRASER FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 23:54, 20 November 2015 | UPDATED: 00:39, 21 November 2015
Andy Murray admitted he felt it best that his team did not sit courtside during his straight-sets defeat by Stan Wawrinka at the ATP World Tour Finals on Friday.
World No 2 Murray was knocked out in the round-robin stage at The O2 as he lost what was effectively a quarter-final shootout 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 to Roland Garros champion Wawrinka.
Eyebrows were raised at the start of the match when it was noticed that Murray’s courtside player box was completely empty, with his team – including wife Kim and coach Jonas Bjorkman – sitting together in a higher position well away from the court.
Andy Murray admitted he felt it best that his team did not sit courtside at The O2 Arena on Friday
Andy Murray admitted he felt it best that his team did not sit courtside at The O2 Arena on Friday. His team – including wife Kim and coach Jonas Bjorkman – sat together in a position well away from court. Scottish world No 2 Murray was knocked out in the round-robin stage against Stan Wawrinka
Murray’s courtside box is often the focus for his ire during matches, particularly so during his defeat by Rafael Nadal on Wednesday, and afterwards he explained his decision to ask his team to not sit so close.
‘With my team sitting behind, I just felt like sometimes when the box is extremely close to the court, I sometimes can find that a distraction,’ said Murray. ‘So I thought it would be better to have them sit a bit further away from the court. That was it.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-3327887/Andy-Murray-hugely-disappointed-mistakes-against-Stan-Wawrinka-crashes-O2.html#ixzz3s7XbQZk4
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I am off to the O2!! see you there, rafa!
Enjoy!
Give Rafa good vibes from his real fans.