Stan Wawrinka, seeded 4th, kept his semi-final hopes alive on Wednesday in London, downing No. 7 David Ferrer in intense action at The O2 that ended 7-5, 6-2.
Advertisement
“It is an important victory, because that put me in a good position to try to be in the semi-finals, and at the same time I have had a big day against a great player on a tough surface”, Nadal shared via the tournament’s official website. That doesn’t mean I am going to play well in every match.
“I think I’m close to knowing which direction I want to go with it, I just want to have a chat with one or two tried and tested confidants and then I’ll try and communicate with the players as possible because I think that’s better all round”. But I didn’t really help myself. But Murray was far from his best, struggling with a low first serve percentage and high error count. It was like the low 40s and in the second set like 35 percent. As the World No 3 and World No 4 for much of this year, the two men haven’t played since the quarter finals of the 2013 US Open, when a straight sets win for the Swiss punctured the Scot’s post-Wimbledon win feelgood factor.
“My game started to feel better out there”, said Wawrinka.
Murray, who beat Spaniard Ferrer in his opener, faded badly in the second set after Nadal finally broke serve decisively in the 10th game having wasted several earlier opportunities.
In a weird display, UK’s number one Andy Murray has given himself a haircut in between games at the ATP World Tour finals.
Federer triumphed 7-5 6-2 in their group stage clash in the packed 17800-capacity O2 Arena in London winning the key points at crucial moments to hand the Serb his first indoor defeat in 39 matches a winning run stretching back to 2012.
After losing to Rafael Nadal in the first round, Wawrinka knew a win was vital with the same going for Ferrer after losing to Andy Murray.
The trend for singles matches this week has been for a competitive first set to be followed by a whitewash of a second, but Nishikori took the attack to Federer to retrieve the break and then benefited from his opponent’s lapse in concentration.
At 2-3 down, Murray held off a break point twice and saved two break points at 3-4 down as Nadal’s pressure began to tell.
Wawrinka’s normally imperious backhand was failing him but a moment of complacency from Ferrer allowed the French Open champion back into the match.
Advertisement
Nadal was playing aggressively, dictating with his forehand and keeping Murray firmly on the back foot.
