Wawrinka battles to beat Murray, reach final
PARIS — Stan Wawrinka battered the ball as if each swing would determine the outcome of his French Open semifinal against No. 1 Andy Murray.
For much of their 4½ hours of compelling, lengthy and draining points, Murray was up to the task, relentlessly defending and making Wawrinka hit shot after shot after shot. Eventually, the resolute Wawrinka’s offense prevailed. Not bad for an old guy, huh?
Forced to come back twice from a set behind, and never easing up on his go-for-it, attacking style, 2015 champion Wawrinka at last pulled away to beat Murray 6-7 (6), 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-1 on Friday and become the oldest men’s finalist at Roland Garros in 44 years.
“You expect him to hit a lot of balls, for sure. I wasn’t always happy with that,” Wawrinka said through a grin. “You know what his game is, you know how well he can play, and you need to accept it. You need to, as I say, keep pushing yourself.”
Now comes an even tougher task, something the No. 3-seeded Wawrinka, a 32-year-old from Switzerland nicknamed “Stan the Man,” called “probably the biggest challenge you can have in tennis.” He will face Rafael Nadal in the French Open final.
Nadal reached a 10th final at his favorite tournament — he’s 9-0 so far — by overwhelming No. 6 Dominic Thiem of Austria 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 in barely 2 hours.
“Nine or 10 is only 10 percent more,” Nadal joked, when asked about the historic nature of his bid to become the first man to win 10 titles at any major.
He has dropped a measly total of 29 games through six matches, back to his dominating best on clay after withdrawing from the French Open before the third round a year ago with an injured left wrist.
“I don’t care about the games I lost or not, or sets, or these kind of things,” Nadal said. “Only thing I care (about) is I have been playing very well during the whole event.”
It will be Nadal’s 22nd Grand Slam final overall, breaking a tie with Novak Djokovic for second behind Roger Federer’s 28. If Nadal wins the championship on Sunday, it’ll be his 15th at a major, breaking a tie with Pete Sampras for second behind Federer’s 18.
Wawrinka, meanwhile, heads to his fourth Grand Slam final. He’s won the previous three, beating Nadal at the Australian Open in 2014, and Djokovic at Roland Garros two years ago and the U.S. Open last September.
“I’m extremely confident about what I do, about how I feel, about all the hard work I have accomplished over the past days, weeks, months, years,” said Wawrinka, winner of a career-best 10 consecutive matches. “I know that mentally, when I’m there, it’s difficult to beat me.”
WOMEN’S FINAL: A tournament that was missing Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka will finish with a first-time Grand Slam champion, either No. 3-seeded Simona Halep of Romania or 47th-ranked Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, who meet for the singles championship.
Ostapenko, who turned 20 on Thursday, is the first unseeded finalist at Roland Garros since 1983; she’s also never won a tour-level title of any sort. More reasons to find her participation in the final surprising: She had never been past the third round at any Grand Slam tournament before this week, and her previous French Open experience consisted of a first-round loss last year and a loss in qualifying the year before that. The 25-year-old Halep is a much more established player. She owns 15 titles, was the 2014 runner-up at the French Open and will move up to No. 1 in the rankings for the first time if she wins.
The matchup provides quite a contrast in styles: Ostapenko’s big bold strokes aimed at lines vs. Halep’s more conservative, defensive strategy.