Despite spending most of the day on the back foot, Stan Wawrinka took advantages of his opportunities to battle through a tough quarterfinal with seventh seed Viktor Troicki, eventually blowing past the Serbian 7-5, 6-2 at the St. Petersburg Open. Wawrinka was out-chanced for most of the match, but he took advantage of his opportunities, breaking in key moments to book his place in the semifinals.
Late break goes to Wawrinka
Both men started strongly, holding their serves with ease. Troicki would have the first look on his opponent’s serve in the third game, holding a break point and forcing Wawrinka to battle through three deuces before the Swiss held. That was the only game in the first ten where the returner won more than one point.
In the 11th game, Troicki once again put some pressure on his opponents serve, forcing Wawrinka to deuce before the Swiss held. This time, the Serbian was made to pay for his missed opportunity as Wawrinka turned the tables on him in the following game, throwing down his best return game of the match so far. The top seed raced ahead 0-40, triple set point, and converted his second to wrap up the opening set 7-5.
Wawrinka rides momentum into semifinals
Troicki had a chance to reclaim the initiative in the first game of the second set, but was once again unable to convert his break point. After the early scare, the set began to follow a similar script to that of the first set, with both men holding serve with relative ease, although Wawrinka was still having the slightly tougher time.
Seemingly out of nowhere in the sixth game, the Swiss raced ahead 15-40 and converted his second break point to give himself the lead. The break shifted the momentum fully in the favour of Wawrinka, and with Troicki serving at 2-5, the Swiss put him under pressure again. The Serbian found himself down double match point on his own serve and could only bring himself to save one break point as Wawrinka wrapped up his place in the semifinals by breaking Troicki for the third time. The Swiss finished the match on a four-game run.
By the numbers
Despite playing considerably more points on his own serve, Wawrinka managed to limit Troicki’s chances to break to two, both of which the Swiss saved. Troicki’s service numbers were actually better than his opponents, narrowly winning a higher percentage of both his first and second serve points (80 to 78 on first serve, 47 to 46 on second serve), but only saved three of the six break points that he faced. Wawrinka needed just over an hour to claim victory.
Wawrinka moves on to the semifinals where he will play Roberto Bautista Agut.