It was a rematch of the 2015 French Open final which kicked off play at the Western & Southern Open. World number one Novak Djokovic faced off against Stan Wawrinka, the fifth seed. From four-all in the first on, it was all Djokovic who won eight of the last nine games to take the match 6-4, 6-1. With the win, he is two wins away from completing the Golden Masters.
Pre-match notes
As it was previously stated, the last time these two met was at the 2015 French Open final which was won by the Swiss to deny Djokovic the Career Grand Slam. In each of the last six tournaments that these two have met, the winner of this matchup has gone on to win the tournament so this was vital. Both men were coming off of three-setters in their previous rounds as Djokovic came back from double break down in the third to defeat David Goffin. Wawrinka outlasted Ivo Karlovic in three tiebreaks.
Late set jitters from Wawrinka hand the set to Djokovic
With the Swiss serving first, Wawrinka came out with the same aggressive tactics that he did at the French. He was able to get to the net a few times as he held at 15 to open. In the next game, these two played one of the points of the match at 40-15. Djokovic played a drop shot, and Wawrinka got there. The world number one volleyed it back, but the Swiss number two was there to finish it off with a backhand winner.
Both men were holding with ease throughout with Wawrinka asserting his powerful backhand cross-court throughout the set. Despite the early holds, Wawrinka faltered late in the set. Three unforced errors in the ninth game, including a double fault for 15-40 and an errant forehand to gift the break, did him in.
The world number one would consolidate for the game and first set at 6-4. In spite of winning 91 percent of first serve points, Wawrinka was only hitting 38 percent of first serves in. That did him in as the Serb was able to get plenty of looks on the Wawrinka second serve.
Djokovic runs away with the second set
Once again, it was the Swiss who opened up the set serving. On what turned out to be a crucial point at 30-15, Wawrinka pushed Djokovic all over the court, but the Serb’s great defense paid his adversary a bit nervy on the overhead as he it about a mile wide. That opened up things for the Wimbledon champ as a couple of errors from the French Open champ gifted the Serb yet another break,
The following game Wawrinka hit a forehand winner with some extra pace on it to force deuce but was unable to get the back as it was consolidated for 2-0. Both players were trading backhand-to-backhand rallies throughout the third game, and once again, the Serb forced Wawrinka to go for a bit more than he liked. A forehand that sailed on the Swiss put Djokovic up a double break, and it looked all but over.
Wawrinka raced out to a 0-30 lead with a blistering cross-court forehand return winner but some poor footwork and shot selection was the bane for him in this game as the world number one consolidated for a 4-0 lead. Finally for Wawrinka, he was able to get on the board with a quick hold for 4-1. Despite that though, an error-filled final two games from the Swiss halted any chance at a comeback as Djokovic took this match 6-4, 6-1.
It was a dominating performance from Djokovic on the baseline as he controlled the baseline rallies. At one point late in the match, he had won 11 more baseline rallies than his Swiss counterpart. One would expect that number would be near even given Wawrinka’s firepower and strong groundstrokes, but the fatigue from the his back-to-back three-setters plus what he’s gone through mentally over the last week-plus has taken loads out of him. Djokovic will face Alexandr Dolgopolov for a spot in the final.