Wimbledon Day 9 Recap: French Open Champ Goes Down

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The men’s semifinal is set and there is one name who is not like the other. Nine years after reaching his last Wimbledon semifinal, Richard Gasquet is back in the final four. What does this all mean heading into the semifinal on Friday?

Biggest Upset

Richard Gasquet was not supposed to beat Stan Wawrinka, the French Open champion, but there were rumblings on the telecast and on twitter that Gasquet may match up well. Throughout the match that held true as he frustrated Wawrinka with crafty slices, well placed baseline shots and scampering points at the net. Wawrinka was his own worst enemy yesterday as he had twice as many unforced errors as Gasquet and was did not particularly serve well. There’s not much time to celebrate for for Gasquet however, considering his prize is a meeting with Novak Djokovic. He’s 1-12 all-time against Djokovic, but then again who has a good record against Novak.

Title Watch The favorite and defending champion, Novak Djokovic had no issue dispatching his quarterfinal opponent Marin Cilic in straights after a grueling two day match against Kevin Anderson. There was nothing flashy from Djokovic, simply surgical precision (he only had 12 errors) and timely breaks to take the match in less than two hours.


Even though Roger Federer’s consecutive hold of serve streak of 116 was broken, the result against Gilles Simon was never in doubt. The same went for Andy Murray against Vasek Pospisil, who also won in straights and held his own streak of having never dropped a set in four meetings.

What to Watch for Friday

Andy Murray and Roger Federer are two of the most evenly matched players on tour who both thrive on grass. Federer has never lost a semifinal match at Wimbledon but the last time he faced off against Murray on Grass he had to settle for silver at the Olympics. Murray has been building up to this moment with fantastic play over the last few months and will eager to put his recent results against Roger Federer behind him. Those results include a 6-0, 6-1 beatdown at ATP Tour Finals in London last year and three straight victories, all on hard court, prior to that. But this is Wimbledon. Federer once was king but Murray is the crowd’s darling. Whatever each player’s motivation is expect this to be one of the best matches of the year.

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