adminRoger Federer and Stan Wawrinka will meet in an all-Swiss semi-final at the US Open after impressive wins over Richard Gasquet and Kevin Anderson. Seventeen-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer did not face a single break point as he beat Frenchman Gasquet 6-3 6-3 6-1 in just 87 minutes.
Wawrinka made almost as short work of Andy Murray’s conqueror Kevin Anderson, beating the South African 6-4 6-4 6-0.
Top seed Novak Djokovic will face holder Marin Cilic in the other semi. Federer has won 16 of his 19 meetings with compatriot Wawrinka, but lost the most recent in this year’s French Open quarter-finals and found his wife’s courtside conduct called into question after a bad-tempered encounter at last year’s World Tour Finals in London.
However, he said he was relishing the chance to meet his friend and Davis Cup team-mate in the last four. “Stan played a wonderful match against me in Paris,” he said. “He can consistently bring the power on forehand, backhand, and serve out almost anybody when he gets hot.
“It’s cool for us to have two Swiss in the semi-finals.”
Anderson’s win over Murray in the previous round was built on relentless aggression off the ground as well as his powerful serve, but he could not replicate those tactics against Wawrinka.
Anderson hit less than half the number of aces and less than a third of the number of winners that he managed against Murray.
By contrast, Wawrinka put together his most impressive performance of the tournament after making relatively heavy weather of beating Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Hyeon Chung in the opening rounds.
“Stan didn’t make it easy,” Anderson said.
“He was taking time away from me. He was swinging out and I was just a step slow.”
While Wawrinka said his relationship with Federer off the court was still good, he added his countryman’s demeanour on court had been changed by their increasingly competitive meetings.
“Before it was only me,” Wawrinka said. “I was nervous because I knew I wasn’t at his level, for sure.
“Now I think we can see that he was also nervous every time we play each other the past few years. That’s a big difference, because that shows how much he knows that I can play at his level.”— Sport24.
Online Reporter