Stanislas Wawrinka has beaten Tomas Berdych to make his first Major final, and, from the smile on Berdych’s face at the net as the two shook hands, the Czech was as pleased to see the Swiss advance as the Swiss and his fans. Berdych will have appreciated just how well played the Swiss played in their contest, and should have felt some satisfaction somewhere in the deep pain of defeat that he played close to his best, too.
The Swiss started out the better of the two. Wawrinka edged the first set when at 4-3 he broke the Czech, his angles and defence getting the better of the Czech whose missed overhead on breakpoint meant Wawrinka served for the set. The Swiss earned set point with a service winner. Another service winner and he had a one set to love lead.
Berdych kept a tighter rein on things in the second, staying with Wawrinka to the tiebreak. The Czech got the early mini-break, hitting flat and hard to the Swiss’s weapon, the backhand, and forcing an error. It was a sound strategy. The backhand was getting less of a workout in the match as Berdych went to the forehand more often than not, a forehand that was holding up brilliantly, but playing to Wawrinka’s untested strength in the big moment and forcing it into error worked a treat for the Czech. He then gleaned another mini break, his forehand down the line, his own strength, drawing another error on the Swiss’s backhand side, to lead 6-1. The Czech boomed down a big second serve, Wawrinka’s attempt at a chip return was dumped into the net and the match was at a set all.
The third set also went with serve, both men doing their thing, keeping matters clean and pretty. Berdych was hitting as flat and deep as he likes, moving the Swiss around and hitting into the open court. The Swiss attacked and hit his forehand angled and pacey, unleashing the backhand when he had the chance. It was almost exhibition like yet the tension was very much there, too; the tension that comes when you are playing for a place in a Major final. It seemed to get to the Swiss more when at 5-5, 30-30, he lost a 20 shot rally, Berdych’s forehand down the line forcing him once more into error on the backhand. But a service winner got Wawrinka out of trouble and he held it together to lead 6-5. Berdych then held serve and we were in a tiebreaker.
It was there that the tension took its toll on both men as they traded mini breaks early on. Then Berdych faltered again. His usually steady second serve broke down as he went for too much , double faulting to go 1-4 down. In a way it was understandable. Breakers are swung on the slightest of margins and the serve could have gone in for a winner, as they so often do with the 6ft 5″ Czech. Or the service, if anything less than exceptional, could have been struck back for a return winner. As it was the risk did not pay off and Wawrinka was a minibreak up. Berdych continued to take risks, over hitting a return on a second serve that sat up, begging to be manhandled, at 3-4. But while Berdych was struggling, Wawrinka was holding firm. A Wawrinka service winner helped him along to 6-3. Three set points for a two sets to one lead, a set away from his first first Major final. His first chance would come with a look at a Berdych second serve. But he did not have to look at all. The Czech double faulted again, determined to go down his own way and not Wawrinka’s.
The unpaid risks of Berdych in the breaker seemed to bother him in the opening game of the fourth in which the two men battled for 12 minutes. The Czech fortunately finally found his consistency to hold serve and the set moved along entertainingly as Berdych brushed the disappointment of the third aside and Wawrinka played in as relaxed a manner as a man can just games away from his dream coming true. A set marked by both men playing to win and not lose flowed into a tiebreaker, the most fitting and yet unfair way to decide such an even contest.
Wawrinka forged ahead on the opening point, earning a mini break as his passing shot forced an error on the Czech’s forehand volley side. The Swiss held his nerve and serve to stay in the lead. A double fault from Berdych handed the Swiss another mini-break. The Czech did not go into his shell after his errors and continued to go for his shots. But the moment was too much. Another Berdych error, a forehand long, and Wawrinka was 6-3 up with two serves for the final.
This was it. This was what Wawrinka’s learning curve had been escalating towards. The defeat to Djokovic here last year. The defeat of Murray in New York and his first semi-final at a Major. The loss that followed, again to Djokovic. The placing in the last 8 at the World Tour finals. The season opening win in Chennai; impressive as so many men follow a breakthrough season with a lull. All of that had led to this. And this could only be achieved with a risk. Wawrinka missed the first serve. And then double faulted. It was a risk worth taking, the Swiss having another service at his disposal.
This was the one. Another risk. Another service winner. Wawrinka was through to his first final.
The warm embrace at the net, the smile on both men’s face, told us both competitors knew they had fought in a quality match, a match that saw 117 winners from the two of them to 98 errors. Such stats will come as small compensation for the pain Berdych must have felt, but the rush of a match well played could not be denied by either. Wawrinka said in his post match interview how ‘very, very, very happy’ he felt. Feelings felt all over the stadium, and in Switzerland, no doubt, too. A country that may feel over the moon should their two finest tennis players meet in the final Sunday. A day when, if Wawrinka is the A star student he seems to be, that learning curve could very well peak.
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