Stan Wawrinka reaches French Open final, while Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic fall victims to rain delay
The Swiss wins 6-3, 6-7 (1-7), 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 in front of 15,000 fans in Paris
Stan Wawrinka took on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and 15,000 of his most passionate fans and silenced them all to reach the French Open final for the first time with a 6-3, 6-7 (1-7), 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 victory on Friday.
Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray’s hopes, meanwhile, were on a knife edge after a thunderstorm brought a halt to proceedings in the second semi-final. The duo were sent scuttling back into the locker room with world number one Djokovic leading 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 3-3. They are to resume their match on Saturday.
Tsonga’s hopes of becoming the first Frenchman to win the title since Yannick Noah in 1983 melted away on the hottest day of the championships -- with the mercury hitting 33 degrees Celsius -- as Wawrinka won the points that mattered.
The Swiss eighth seed lived dangerously throughout, saving 16 of the 17 break points he faced during the gruelling three hour 46 minute contest, and was a mightily relieved man when he fired down an unreturnable serve to end the semi-final.
He had opportunities to break me in the third set. As is usual against Jo, it’s been a very tough match. It was tough but I’m happy I got through
His triumph was greeted with loud boos from sections of the crowd but Wawrinka cared little about being cast as the villain on a day when he reached the second grand slam final of his career.
"It was a big battle, it could have gone either way," said the 2014 Australian Open champion.
