So far this week at the ATP World Tour Finals he has beaten world No. 4 Stanislas Wawrinka and No. 2 Andy Murray, without dropping a set to reach the semifinals with a match to spare, where he will face world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
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Should Federer win that match and go on to beat either Rafa Nadal or Novak Djokovic in Sunday’s final, it may be the veteran Swiss, and not Murray, who will be World No 2 going into January and the Australian Open. He has at-times this week looked disinterested and there is no telling if memories of last year’s match will haunt or motivate him.
It was a winner-takes-all contest, with the victor assured of a final-four showdown against Roger Federer but the insipid Murray was no match for Wawrinka, who benefited from his opponent’s error-riddled performance as he advanced to the semis for the third successive year.
Watch live coverage from semi-final day at the ATP World Tour Finals, starting at noon on Saturday.
Murray and Wawrinka were both guilty of numerous careless errors, Murray in a first-set tiebreak that he led 4-2.
Murray seemed unable to respond when the Swiss turned on the power, but thanks to Wawrinka’s clumsiness, he fought back from a break down to take the opener to a tie-break. “But I am not anxious about it. Three straight wins against top-eight players, that’s a great news for me”.
Glasgow, meanwhile, has missed out in the running for Great Britain’s first round tie in the 2016 Davis Cup.
But there was still no sign of Nadal saving his body for the Djokovic match and his perseverance was rewarded when he broke at 4-4 to set up the win. That one was more of a potent display from Wawrinka than anything as Federer could not match his shot making. I think I competed well. “So tomorrow is another opportunity to compete against the best, to see if I am able to compete at a very high level again”.
“It’s an fantastic tournament to play”, Wawrinka said. His form has picked up appreciably in the last two months, despite having to play on his least favoured surface of hard courts.
Murray broke back once and had two points to bring the match to 5-5 – and his efforts caused him to clutch his lower back with Davis Cup captain Leon Smith grimacing with worry. It just hasn’t quite happened for me and I’m disappointed about that.
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When the names Federer and Wwrinka appear on the schedule of play for an event, most fans get excited and expect an other worldly experience. I am not going to practise tennis next week, but probably Wednesday, Thursday, Friday I will go to the gym to start physical preparation. “If he’s mentally not really here, then he’s a different player”. He smashed his racked when Wawrinka smashed a victor for match point, before hitting long for deuce. “I’m going to be focused on that, try to rest, try to recover and be ready for hopefully a good match”. “The only positive for me is that I have come away from this week injury free and I have a couple more days to prepare for Belgium”.
