French Open Roundup | Rafael Nadal to fight it out with Stan Wawrinka in a bid to win his 10th title
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Rafael Nadal entered the finals of the clay court championship after demolishing Dominic Thiem in straight sets of 6-3, 6-4 and 6-0 on Friday. Meanwhile, Stan Wawrinka overcame World No. 1 Andy Murray 6-7, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 and 6-1 in a four and half hour game to book a place in the Sunday showdown.
The Clay King beats Dominic Thiem
Dominic Thiem was one of the favourites to win the tournament as the Austrian had stunned Nadal earlier this year. However, Nadal outclassed Thiem at the Phillipe-Chartier court to take a step closer to his La Decima French Open title.
The Spaniard looked rusty in the first game of the first set and Thiem took advantage of the fact and won the game. However, Nadal clawed back in the game with three back-to-back games taking the lead 3-1 to eventually win the set 6-3. The Austrian was then handed out a defeat in the first game of the second set when Nadal used an exquisite top lob spin to outsmart the Austrian. Nadal then outclassed Thiem 6-4 to win the second and then was just one set away to register a berth in the finals of the championship.Â
The 31-year old then demolished the Austrian in the third set as he went up by two sets to love in the third and then crushed Thiem 6-0 to take a step closer towards the title.
Stan Wawrinka outlasts Andy Murray
32-year-old Stan Wawrinka became the oldest player to reach the finals of the French Open in 44 years after he defeated Andy Murray in a thrilling encounter on Friday. Wawrinka lost the first set at the hands of the Briton but bounced back in the second to level things up at 1-1. World No. 1 Murray then won the third to take the lead in the match. However, once again the Swiss clawed back taking the fourth set into a tiebreaker which he won 7-3. In the last set, Wawrinka dominated the game right from the outset and paved the way for his fourth Grand Slam final defeating Murray 6-1. The Swiss scored 7 aces and 87 winners to win the thrilling four and half hours encounter.
Wawrinka has won all three Grand Slam finals he had featured in his career- namely the 2014 Australian Open, 2015 French Open and 2016 US Open. The city of Paris is all set to witness the fiery clash on June 11th.
Michael Venus and Ryan Harrison stun Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah
The unseeded duo of Kiwi Michael Venus and American Ryan Harris stunned the 16th seeded Colombian pair of Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah yesterday in sets of 4-6, 6-3 and 6-4 to set up a men's doubles final with unseeded  Mexican Santiago Gonzalez and American Donald Young scheduled later toady.Â
