French Open: Wawrinka-Murray set up semifinal clash

Swiss third seed Wawrinka, the 2015 title winner, has not lost a set on his way to a third successive semifinal in Paris.

Published : Jun 07, 2017 22:33 IST , Paris

Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka booked his place in the semifinals of the Roland Garros on Wednesday.
Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka booked his place in the semifinals of the Roland Garros on Wednesday.
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Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka booked his place in the semifinals of the Roland Garros on Wednesday.

World number one Andy Murray advanced to his fifth French Open semifinal on Wednesday, defeating Japanese eighth seed Kei Nishikori 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7/0), 6-1. He will face Stan Wawrinka in the last four game. Wawrinka became the oldest French Open semifinalist in 32 years on Wednesday when he brushed aside Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.

Murray was runner-up to Novak Djokovic at Roland Garros last year. Murray vented his frustration at a lack of consistency from umpires after receiving two time violations in Wednesday's win over Kei Nishikori at the French Open. Despite downing Nishikori he was twice penalised by Carlos Ramos for taking too long between points, losing a first serve following a repeat offence early in the second set.

The incident appear to fire up Murray as the Briton ran away with the second set, but he expressed his dismay at the way the rules are applied.

"It's possible that I'm playing too slow. I don't know, because we don't have the clock on the court so it's impossible for us to tell," said Murray.

"We can't tell, as players, how long we are taking. You're allowed 20 seconds here. The rest of the year it's 25 seconds.

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Andy Murray beat Japan's Kei Nishikori to reach the semifinals.

"How the players are supposed to know that in their head when we're playing at one speed throughout the whole year, and then you show up at the slams, you're expected to speed up by 5 seconds. It's a pretty long time."

Rafael Nadal took issue with Ramos earlier in the tournament for treating him like a "machine" and suggested he was being unfairly targeted to speed up play.

"I think if someone is intentionally slowing a match down they should be punished for that, but it's a rule that is going to be challenging regardless of whether there is a clock on the court or not," added Murray.

"It's difficult because the consistency is not there."

Earlier, Former champion Wawrinka brushed aside Marin Cilic. Swiss third seed Wawrinka, the 2015 title winner, has not lost a set on his way to a third successive semifinal in Paris. The 32-year-old is the oldest man to make the last four at Roland Garros since Jimmy Connors in 1985. He will face world number one Andy Murray for a place in the final.

"It was perfect today, I'm very satisfied," said Wawrinka who will be playing in his third successive Roland Garros semifinal.

"I played well, was very solid and took my opportunities."

Wawrinka, the reigning US Open champion, took his record over Croatian seventh seed Cilic to 12-2 with an eighth successive win over the 28-year-old.

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