Wawrinka moves on to quarter-finals
Tournament No. 2 seed beats Jack Sock in straight sets
With his first set tiebreak against Stan Wawrinka knotted at 3-3, American Jack Sock hit a forehand that looked long, but seized a chance to turn an unforced error into a winner and seize momentum in a tight match. “Challenge,” he shouted. “C’mon, Sockie!” yelled one of his handful of supporters at the Aviva Centre’s main court.
The video judge denied the challenge and soon Wawrinka, the Rogers Cup’s second seed, slammed the door shut on the American upstart, winning the tiebreak en route to a 7-6, 6-2 victory.
That win sends Wawrinka to Friday’s quarter-final, equalling his best-ever Rogers Cup finish and setting up a showdown with six-footeight South African Kevin Anderson.
“It’s always . . . tough conditions here, quite fast,” said the 31-year-old Wawrinka. “(It’s the) first time I was playing Jack. Not easy to find the right play, but I’m happy with the way I played in general and the win.”
For the second time this week Wawrinka, the world’s fifth-ranked player, had to expend some time and effort before solving a lower-ranked opponent.
Tuesday night, Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny pushed him to tiebreakers in both sets, and Thursday, he need- ed nearly an hour to close out the first set against the16th-seeded Sock.
The second set passed much more quickly, with Wawrinka racing out to a 4-0 lead before prevailing 6-2.
Wawrinka occupies the lower half of the draw, which keeps him clear of world number one Novak Djokovic and homegrown favourite Milos Raonic.
But that doesn’t mean Switzerland’s second-most famous men’s tennis player has an obstacle-free path to the final.
Friday, he faces Anderson, who needed three sets and a little over two hours to subdue Australian Bernard Tomic.
The unseeded Anderson’s win over 12th seed Tomic registers as a mild upset. And according to world rank- ings, the 34-ranked Anderson is far below Wawrinka. But the two men have each won four of their eight previous meetings. They last faced off in the 2015 U.S. Open quarter-finals, where Wawrinka won in straight sets. Before that Anderson had a three-match winning streak against Wawrinka.
“For me, it doesn’t change much to be No. 2 seed, 3 seed, or 4 seed,” Wawrinka said.
“That’s more or less where I have been the past two years now. At the end of the day, you need to beat those tough players.
“I lost two years ago when I play (Anderson) here. It’s going to be interesting match to play again against him. It’s always been difficult to beat him.”