ATP Finals: Wawrinka beats Murray; sets up semi-final clash with Federer

Nadal, who had already secured top sport in his group, fought back from one set down to beat fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-4 in two hours 37 minutes. He broke again with another backhand victor, and although he tensed up to produce a flurry of errors and a break back, he pressed on through a final break point, and one last Murray error, his 30th of the match, sent Wawrinka into the semi-finals for the third time in three visits to the World Tour Finals.

“Way too many errors the last two matches”.

Federer was 3-0 in group play and will face the victor of Friday’s second match between No. 2 Andy Murray and No. 4 Stan Wawrinka in the semifinals on Saturday.

Afternoon! Whenever I think of matches between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal my mind goes straight back to that Australian Open final of 2012.

‘With my team sitting behind, I just felt like sometimes when the box is extremely close to the court, I sometimes can find that a distraction, ‘ said Murray.

Hopefully we won’t be talking about the involvement of Mrs Federer this time around, but we could be set for an equally tight and tense encounter that has the potential to be the match of another disappointing year-end tournament. Always been there. I practice so many times with him. “A really hard match against a player who is playing just better, impossible I believe”.

Parallels have been drawn with Roger Federer’s hard 2013, when he lost to players he would usually dominate, while struggling with a back injury and contemplating the racquet change to a larger-headed model that for the past two years has made such a difference to his game.

“We’ll see. Maybe he’s going to feel more relaxed, no pressure, go for it more, or maybe he’s not going to be completely here”.

For Murray and Wawrinka, however, all is still to play for.

But the Wimbledon and Olympic champion insists he’s determined to raise his game in London tonight to be ready to make more history. “It’s a big chance to be in the top eight at the end of the year”.

Wawrinka kept that momentum going early in the second set to break once in the first game and again in the seventh game, but nerves crept in later on and allowed Murray to narrow his opponent’s lead to 5-4. “I felt like my timing would get better as the event went on, and it didn’t actually, it got worse, which is unusual”.

It will take a remarkably quick recovery from Nadal if he is to end Djokovic’s bid for a record fourth successive Tour Finals title. However, the contest will be taking place on a surface that is Nadal’s least favored and one that Djokovic has been utterly dominant on.

Dead rubber While a dead rubber might be the height of pointlessness to many, the near-full arena at least saw Ferrer push Nadal way further than he had been tested earlier in the week by Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray.

“I think it wouldn’t be fair for myself and it would be a little bit pretentious or arrogant if I say, yes, I’m in another league”. Lot of positive things during the last weeks. I’m playing well, he’s playing well.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow”.