The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Murray bursting with pride despite defeat World no 1 satisfied with form after losing epic semi-final clash against Wawrinka
Andy Murray was proud of his French Open efforts after falling just short against Stan Wawrinka in a brutal semi-final battle yesterday as the Swiss ace exacted brutal revenge to reach his second French Open final.
The Scot ended Wawrinka’s reign as champion in the semi-finals 12 months ago but could not engineer a repeat as the Swiss triumphed 6-7 (6/8) 6-3 5-7 7-6 (7/3) 6-1 after four hours and 34 minutes.
Wawrinka, who has won all his previous three grand slams finals, will face clay king Rafael Nadal tomorrow.
Having arrived in Paris with only four wins since February and unsure even whether he would survive one match, Murray could not be too unhappy with his loss.
He said: “I’m proud of the tournament I had. I did well considering. I was one tie-break away from getting to the final when I came in really struggling. So I have to be proud of that.
“Maybe the lack of matches hurt me a little bit in the end today. That was a very high-intensity match. A lot of long points.
“When you haven’t been playing loads, four-and-a-half hours, that can catch up to you a little bit. So I only have myself to blame for that, for the way I played coming into the tournament.
“But I turned my form around really, really well and ended up having a good tournament, all things considered.”
The first set alone had enough drama for a whole match.
Wawrinka made his intentions clear from the off, crushing 12 winners in the first five games, most of them off his forehand.
Murray tried to pin Wawrinka high on his single-handed backhand but was struggling to maintain enough depth on his shots.
Wawrinka made the first move with a break for 5-3, seizing on a tentative approach and flashing a cross-court winner past the despairing lunge of Murray at the net.
But he could not serve it out as Murray again showed off his remarkable defence abilities.
When Wawrinka drilled a forehand into the corner, it looked as if he had saved break point, but Murray scrambled a lob just inside the baseline and his frustrated opponent smashed it long.
Both men contrived to throw away points in an enthralling tie-break – Wawrinka twice getting it wrong with his forehand before, at 5-4, Murray was too casual on a forehand with the court gaping and paid the price.
Wawrinka won a fine rat-a-tat volley exchange at the net to create a set point only to net a backhand.
And he would live to regret it as Murray combined defensive and offensive lobs to move 7-6 in front and then took the set when Wawrinka dumped a return in the net.
The third seed, who was bullish about his chances ahead of the match, surely could not believe he was behind.
But he refocused and, crucially, began to tee off on his backhand during the second set, nailing a winner down the line to break at love in the seventh game.
Wawrinka does not so much hit the ball as bully it, and a forehand return crushed into the corner gave him a fourth game in a row and the second set.
Speaking after a patchy win over Kei Nishikori in the quarter-finals, Murray said: “Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do to win the match. It’s not always about how well you play.”
But finding a way, the Murray mantra, was not working and Wawrinka won the first three games of the second set to make it seven in succession.
Murray succeeded last year by surprising Wawrinka with his aggression and rushing the Swiss, but he was playing this match from several metres behind the baseline.
What Murray never lacks, however, is grit, and just when it looked like the contest was getting away from him, he worked his way back in.
Great hands help, too. No one in tennis anticipates like Murray, and the Scot’s ability not just to get a racket to smashes but to send them back with interest was driving Wawrinka to distraction.
With a combination of inspired defence and some of the best attacking play he has shown all fortnight, Murray won five of the last six games to steal the set from under Wawrinka’s nose.
The Swiss must have been fuming but he weathered a Murray purple patch at the start of the fourth and finished the set back on top.
A poor drop shot cost the world no 1 in the tie-break, which Wawrinka took with another bulldozing forehand.
And when he won the first three games of the fifth set, breaking Murray twice, it was clear the weary Scot’s race was run.
Murray battled grimly to avoid a love set but Wawrinka finished the match in the manner in which he had played it, with his 87th winner.
Murray said: “I lost a little bit of speed on my serve, which wasn’t allowing me to dictate many points. He obviously hit some greats shots in the fifth but I didn’t keep the score close enough to put him under pressure.
“Physically I didn’t feel my best at the end. I didn’t have enough weight on my shot.”
Wawrinka was very happy with the way he stayed mentally in the match and felt Murray was not the same opponent he faced 12 months ago.
“Last year he was stronger. He was very aggressive, and he never really let me install my game. Today I think he’s less confident. He played a bit less fast. He was a little more hesitant,” he said.