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ROLAND GARROS 2015 - DAY 13 IP: 46.255.183.159 Posted on June 6, 2015 at 00:33:42 AM by David Barnes
ROLAND GARROS 2015
FRIDAY 5 JUNE - DAY 13
On paper there was little to separate Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Stan Wawrinka, the first two semi-finalists on Philippe Chatrier this scorching afternoon, when temperatures soared into the 90s. Both aged 30, they had won three matches apiece in their previous encounters, and their last two meetings here at Roland Garros went to five sets, so that a reprise of that sort of form would leave Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic coming on court well into the evening.
It was odd to see the stadium half-empty for the 1pm start of the match, given that Tsonga was bidding to be the first Frenchman to reach a Roland Garros final since Henri Leconte (knocked out of the Legends event, and commentating for the French TV channel France Inter) in 1988. Those who stayed away would have seen a curate's egg of a first set, Tsonga being broken in his second service game and the Swiss player taking the set
6-3. The Frenchman had three break points on Wawrinka's first service game, and in retrospect would have made life an awful lot easier for himself had he taken one of them, but lost opportunities are the narrative of French tennis in general over the last few decades, and it would be odd to have expected a different story here today.
Wawrinka lost his focus somewhat in the second set, failing to take five break points at 5-5, and paid the price for this lapse in concentration in the subsequent tie-break, which he lost ignominiously 7-6(1), making five unforced errors. His treatment for a sore finger may have earned both players a breathing space but was perhaps complicating things for the Swiss, who nevertheless came back in the third to win it on another tie-break - forcing Tsonga onto his weaker backhand side and generally dominating from the baseline. Wawrinka took the third set, again on a tie-break, 7-6(3), and in the fourth secured an early break, enough to ensure that he kept his sunburnt nose in front and served for the match at 5-4, winning in three and three quarter hours, 3-6, 7-6, 7-6, 6-4. He was booed by a section of the crowd afterwards, but then here in Paris, while they like their own French players to have attitude, they detest it in a foreigner - which is why, of course, they adore Federer, who wears his genial superiority so lightly.
The story of the match can be summed up with a few statistics; Tsonga converted just one break point out of seventeen, Wawrinka three out of fifteen, served eight aces compared to the Swiss's fifteen, and made 48 unforced errors compared to the Frenchman's 53. A curate's egg of a match generally - but at least it kept Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic in the locker room until the worst of the heat had passed.
It was announced during the break between semi-finals that Serena Williams was still ailing, and would neither give the traditional eve-of-final press conference, nor have a practice session. She issued a statement confirming that she was suffering from a viral infection and would see her doctor again later today, and was sorry not to be in better form ahead of - and possibly during - her match tomorrow.
In the meantime, in the view of many round the court, Novak Djokovic took up her mantle and started play-acting at 4-3 up in the first set of his semi-final against Andy Murray, which he went on to close out 6-3 in 44 minutes. There was barely a drop-shot to choose between the two players, except that the Serb's were more telling and thus their impact more demoralising. Djokovic won the second set by the same margin in 42 minutes, a break of serve at 2-2 and another at 5-3 up underlining his superiority over the flailing Scot.
Games went with serve in the third set, which was unfortunate for Murray, since what he needed above all to give him a hope of turning the match round was a break point on the Djokovic serve - none had come his way in the first two sets. And then, at 5-5, the miracle duly happened - Murray got one. Well, to be precise he got three, all at once, took the first of them with a wonderfully controlled forehand retrieval of a poor drop-shot from Djokovic, and served for the set. He then played a brilliant game to love, ending it with a n ace.
The set had taken very nearly an hour; the turning point coming when Murray retrieved a lob of the Serb's at 5-5, 15-0, sending the ball racing past him for a brilliant winner. At that point the Scot started to believe openly that he could make his way back into the match, and told the crowd to back him up, which they started to do by making lots of noise, which started to upset the Serb - anyone who can get under Djokovic's skin will be cheered to the rafters here at Roland Garros. Murray won the next eight points and with them the set 7-5.
At 3-3 in the fourth set play was suspended, on account of an approaching storm, which duly passed over the stadium five minutes or so later. The Scot will think he's in with a good chance of pulling off the upset of the tournament tomorrow when they resume at 1pm (12 noon, London time), while the Serb must be counting his good fortune that play did not resume tonight, as it could have done when the sun came out half an hour or so later, after minimal rainfall. He must also be hoping that the groin strain that is apparently affecting him does not worsen overnight. With luck we will see lots more drama tomorrow - and with even more luck, a fifth set.
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David Barnes/Topspin, 2015
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