It was a straight fight for the last semi-final spot and it is Wawrinka who will play compatriot Roger Federer in a rematch of last year’s fiery encounter following a 7-6 (7/4) 6-4 victory.
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“There was just way too many errors the last two matches”, said Murray.
Neither player had much at stake as Nadal had already clinched first place in the group and Ferrer had been eliminated, but the two baseline sluggers still went at it relentlessly for more than 2 ½ hours in a match full of heavy hitting and long rallies.
6-4 defeat to Stan Wawrinka gives him an additional weekend to prepare for Britain’s Davis Cup final tie against Belgium next weekend, but the 28-year-old from Dunblane cut a frustrated figure in the o2 arena last night, venturing back out on to court at around 11pm to take things out on a small yellow ball.
For the 14-time Grand Slam victor, it served as a flawless warm-up game ahead of his semi-final clash with world number one Djokovic, who qualified from the Stan Smith group as the runner-up. I was up 5-3 to win the set and I did mistakes, important mistakes.
Over to Football, as Chinese Super League Champions Guangzhou Evergrande are looking to lift the Continental Title for a 2nd time in 3 years in Saturday’s 2nd Leg Final in Guangzhou.
Now, he’s put himself in a position to get what he came for in the most appropriate way imaginable: with wins over one (or perhaps both) of his great career rivals, and triumph at the only major event he has never won.
Djokovic said: “The last two matches haven’t been at the level desired, but I still managed to win two and lose one and I’m in the semi-finals”.
“He’s playing really well”, Wawrinka said of Federer.
Any doubts about Murray’s determination to stay in the tournament would have been dismissed by a typically gritty display from the Scot, but he was left to count the cost of 30 unforced errors as he exited in the group stages. For the past four years, the French Open has been the site of an annual showdown between the world’s two best clay-courters. Murray managed to keep his hopes alive by clawing one break back at 5-2 down, and held a further two break points at 5-4, but Wawrinka held his nerve to close out a 7-6(4), 6-4 win and break British hearts.
Rafael Nadal v Novak Djokovic. Consistency though has been more a Federer strong suit this week and I think in the end that will see him march on without the aid of Mirka this time. “That’s a lot of positive energy for me”. But Nadal knew it would make no sense to play in London if he felt as he did a few months ago, when he was not enjoying being on the court, and had no faith that he would be his usual competitive self when he was.
“I felt like my timing would get better as the event went on, and it didn’t actually, it got worse”.
Next comes chapter 46 of their intense rivalry, with Nadal a whisker in front at 23-22. But you also play only the top eight guys.
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Strangely, Murray and Wawrinka have not played each other since 2013, when the Swiss won both their matches comfortably.
