Federer, Wawrinka Cruise Into All-Swiss Semifinal Matchup
The second men’s semifinal at the U.S. Open was settled on Wednesday, as Switzerland’s Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka both rolled in straight sets in their respective quarterfinal matchups, to set up a 20th meeting between Federer and Wawrinka.
Federer continued his unconscious play in Flushing with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 dissection of 12th seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet. The world number two dazzled the crowd at Ashe with a few ridiculous drop shot volleys that were too much for Gasquet.
The Swiss Maestro broke once in the opening set and twice each in the following two sets, while never facing a break point, and hit a whopping 50 winners to just 21 unforced errors.
“I think I have worked on my game moving forward, have been able to take the ball earlier, and, you know, I think I’m volleying better than I have the last 10 years,” said Federer when asked about how he has been able to maintain this level of play at age 34. “I think I was volleying well coming up on the tour when I was younger because I was spending more time at net. I think that gave me confidence to keep working on that, moving forward. Now because my serving is working quite well, you put those two things together, and standing in on the return as well, I think has changed the dynamics a little bit.”
Once again, Federer made it look routine against a player in Gasquet who was playing some outstanding tennis and had just ousted sixth-seed Tomas Berdych.
Federer will take his 16-3 all-time record against Wawrinka into their semifinal on Friday.
Wawrinka played his best match of the tournament thus far on Wednesday, dispatching of 14th seeded South African Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 on Louis Armstrong Stadium.
The fifth-seed Wawrinka secured the break he needed in each of the first two sets, and then pounced on Anderson in the third. He broke the big-serving Anderson on all three of his chances in the third to get out of there in straight sets.
“I played my best tennis so far in the quarterfinal. Beating Anderson was a great match for me,” said Wawrinka. “I’m in the semifinals. I know it’s only two matches left but it’s a big challenge ahead of me. I’m far away from thinking about the trophy.
And he is right. While just two match wins stand in his way of hoisting the trophy, he faces a stiff test in Federer on Friday.
“I think the past three years, for sure, I got closer to him. My level improved a lot. I’m playing better tennis,” he said. “I will for sure need to play my best tennis. He’s playing really well so far. He loves to play, he knows how to play. He’s had some amazing matches. It’s going to be a big challenge, but I think I’m ready.”
