Stan Wawrinka tames Murray

Murray had a chance to win the match but the finish was beyond him, as Wawrinka unfurled the sort of fantasy tennis that landed this title two years ago.  Wawrinka produced 87 clean winners, and the final set was particularly brutal. 

Almost every point seemed to end in a screaming line drive, hit low over the net with bewildering power and wicked spin. The first-set ended in a nervy tie-break, in which only five of the 14 points went to the server. Both men missed sitter forehands from right on top of the net that would have given them a clear advantage. 

It was Murray who regrouped more quickly, pulling off a couple of magnificent defensive plays to take the tiebreak 8-6. Having earned the advantage, however, Murray could not capitalise on it. He became too passive, dropping seven straight games from 3-2 in the second set. 

Wawrinka equalised, then moved into a 4-2 lead in the third. Then, out of the blue, Murray tapped into his reserves of defiance to break back and then steal the set with more defensive brilliance. During his best periods, Murray’s retrievals verged on the supernatural. 

Wawrinka hits his overhead hard and accurately. But when he found himself at the back of the court with one of Murray’s steepling lobs descending from the sky, he found himself questioning where to hit the ball. In the fourth set, Murray missed an easy drop shot that would have set up break point. 

But the serves dominated throughout the set and the tie-break got away from him with the help of another botched drop-shot. Once into the fifth, the momentum swung back for a final time, with Murray a step slow to the ball. Fittingly, Wawrinka completed his 6-7, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6, 6-1 victory with another blazing backhand up the line.