Roger Federer’s 6-3, 6-4 quarterfinal win over Stanislas Wawrinka was not much more than a leisurely tune-up for the pair’s doubles match later on Friday against Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez.
As tennis matches go, this one had a minimum of core competitiveness, with Wawrinka being little more than an acquiescent sparring partner. There was a single moment of doubt, when he had 15-40 on the Federer serve in the very first game. But even that didn’t last long, as he missed consecutive service returns into the net.
When Federer broke serve on a Wawrinka double-fault in the following game, and then held serve easily, it soon became “flying Fed” tennis, the kind that is not seen as frequently these days, as his dominance begins to diminish. In that third game, he started with a flourish—one of those arty forehand inside-out drop shot winners—and then wrapped it up with a crisp forehand volley out of Wawrinka’s reach. Three games later, he dipped to his right near the net and hit a sweet, acute-angled forehand volley past the burly Wawrinka.
If the first set was 29 minutes of a foregone conclusion, the second was only marginally more compelling—mainly because it took Wawrinka five games, instead of two, to lose his serve.
Mirka was at the 63-minute snoozer, the first time I recall seeing her there this week, which could explain Federer being a little more focused.
But not likely—in deconstructing the outcome, it’s hard to get past the fact that Wawrinka, knowing he would be teaming up with his illustrious fellow-countryman in about two hours, just didn’t feel like allowing things to get complicated. He may also have realized that his older compatriot has a lot on his plate this weekend, with the doubles, the current form player Novak Djokovic already awaiting him in Saturday’s semifinals and the possibility of playing Nadal (or the resurgent Juan Martin del Potro) in Sunday’s final. If every match Federer played was as easy and one-directional as this one, he could be playing the tour until he’s 45.
Commentator Robbie Koenig said near the end of the match, “maybe Wawrinka is saving his best tennis for the doubles.”
You certainly have to hope so.
—Tom Tebbutt