Wawrinka seals Stockholm SF berth, dents Rublev’s Turin hopes

p a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/stan-wawrinka/w367/overview'Stan Wawrinka/a is surging in Stockholm. /p

p The Swiss star on Friday delivered a classy display to defeat top seed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/andrey-rublev/re44/overview'Andrey Rublev/a 7-6(5), 7-6(5) and reach the semi-finals at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/stockholm/429/overview'BNP Paribas Nordic Open/a in the Swedish capital. Wawrinka held firm in a pair of tie-breaks to seal a one-hour, 52-minute triumph and defeat an opponent from the Top 10 of the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time since August 2023. /p

p “The key was to stay focused and positive with myself,” said Wawrinka, who let slip a 2-0 lead in the second set before completing his win. “Andrey is such an amazing player, but I was feeling good on the court, I was moving well. I could start to dictate a little bit, and with so much support from the crowd, it is easier to fight on the court.” /p

blockquote class="twitter-tweet"p lang="en" dir="ltr"????????????????-???????????????????????????????? ????a href="https://twitter.com/stanwawrinka?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@stanwawrinka/a stuns Rublev 7-6(5) 7-6(5) to reach the last 4 in Stockholm!a href="https://twitter.com/sthlm_open?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@sthlm_open/a | a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bnpparibasnordicopen?src=hashamp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"#bnpparibasnordicopen/a a href="https://t.co/ruoDOBKHnj"pic.twitter.com/ruoDOBKHnj/a/pmdash; ATP Tour (@atptour) a href="https://twitter.com/atptour/status/1847277555889344884?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"October 18, 2024/a/blockquote script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"/script

p The former World No. 3 Wawrinka sent 14 aces past Rublev, according to Infosys ATP Stats, en route to opening a 3-2 lead in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series. Awaiting the three-time major champion in Saturday’s semi-finals will be fourth seed and 2021 Stockholm champion a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/tommy-paul/pl56/overview'Tommy Paul/a, who earlier battled past a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/miomir-kecmanovic/ki95/overview'Miomir Kecmanovic/a 7-6(9), 6-2. /p

p By reaching the last four for the first time in four Stockholm appearances, the 39-year-old Wawrinka became the third-oldest semi-finalist in ATP Tour history (since 1990), behind a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jimmy-connors/c044/overview'Jimmy Connors/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/ivo-karlovic/k336/overview'Ivo Karlovic/a. /p

p “I cannot change my age, but most important for me is that when I enter the court, I always try to fight,” said Wawrinka. “I try to improve and enjoy what I am doing. The reason I keep going is to play matches like this, with so many people giving me good energy on the court, and I’m super happy to have the chance to play one more match tomorrow.” /p

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p Friday’s defeat to Wawrinka was a setback to Rublev’s hopes of qualifying for the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/nitto-atp-finals/605/overview'Nitto ATP Finals/a for fifth consecutive year. The World No. 7 remains eighth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, but the four players below him are all still competing at ATP 250 level this week. /p

p One of them is the 11th-placed Paul, who saved a set point at 7/8 in the first-set tie-break against Kecmanovic before completing his Stockholm quarter-final win. The American, who is chasing a debut appearance at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/nitto-atp-finals/605/overview'Nitto ATP Finals/a, is 645 points shy of Rublev in eighth. /p

pa href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/tallon-griekspoor/gj37/overview'Tallon Griekspoor/a upset second seed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/casper-ruud/rh16/overview'Casper Ruud/a, sailing to a 7-5, 7-6(5) victory over the Norwegian to reach the semi-finals on Friday./p

pGriekspoor dug deep to prevail against his opponent in one hour, 57 minutes. The 28-year-old dictated the match with his serve, hitting 13 aces and winning 78 per cent of his first-serve points. The Dutchman also saved all three break points he faced against the 25-year-old, who is seventh in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin. /p

pWith the victory, Griekspoor registered his third Top 10 win and became the first Dutch semi-finalist in Stockholm since a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/sjeng-schalken/s572/overview'Sjeng Schalken/a won the title in 2001. He will play a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/grigor-dimitrov/d875/overview'Grigor Dimitrov/a for a place in the final./p

pThird seed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/grigor-dimitrov/d875/overview'Grigor Dimitrov/a advanced to his fifth semi-final in Stockholm with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/dominic-stricker/s0la/overview'Dominic Stricker/a./p

pThe 2013 champion won 81 per cent of his first-serve points and saved all seven break points he faced in the one-hour, 11-minute match. /p

pThe Bulgarian, currently 10th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, is hoping to make a late-season push to qualify for the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/nitto-atp-finals/605/overview'Nitto ATP Finals/a, where he claimed the title in 2017./p

p [NEWSLETTER FORM] /p