After one hour and fifty two minutes of irremissible misses on the forehand and backhand sides, Stanislas Wawrinka was two sets down and facing break points at 2-all, 15-40 when he almost visibly roused himself from latency with a spicy cross-court forehand.
His opponent Richard Gasquet paced patiently for a few moments while Stan wiped away his tentativeness in the court-side towel, the both of them wondering if the match were almost over.
In the next point, the second line call in a span of five minutes ensued, again going in Wawrinka's favor - his forehand was well inside the service line. He still had a few words to share with the chair umpire though, pointing his finger accusingly and raising his voice in anger.
Vexed outbursts more often than not cloud a player's focus and cause him/her to lose the match, mostly because it is the unattractive scoreline that frustrates them and not so much the particular incident at hand. But Wawrinka kept his cool - or rather his heat - and took the next two sets.
Richard of France was well aware that he'd just squandered a two sets to love lead to an enraged opponent and conjured up enough decent play to force a deciding tiebreak.
Fighting to stay in the match at 6-7, 15-40, however, his first serve betrayed him at the worst possible time and, whether he realized or not that he had one more opportunity to avoid an exit, he made little effort to return an inch-perfect down-the-line forehand from Wawrinka and lost - or forfeited, I dare say - his berth on the royal French clay.
Against the odds, Stanislas Wawrinka had made it to the quarterfinals, final score: 6-7, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 8-6.
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| Swiss #2 Stanislas Wawrinka on Day at Roland Garros |
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