Andy Murray and Stan
Wawrinka could meet in the semi-finals again - but Kei Nishikori and Marin
Cilic look formidable last-eight obstacles on Day 11 at Roland-Garros .
Andy Murray has rediscovered his ‘A’ game just
at the most propitious time as he prepares for another potentially compelling
duel with Kei Nishikori on Wednesday, two of the game’s legends belive.
While former champion Stan Wawrinka is steeling
himself for the booming challenge of Marin Cilic in the remaining men’s
quarter-final, the most likely prospect is for the winner of that tie to run
into rejuvenated world No.1 Murray.
At least, that’s the view of John McEnroe and
Goran Ivanisevic, even when recognising just how evenly-matched Murray and
Nishikori were in two epic five-setters last year, the Briton winning a Davis
Cup rubber and the Japanese prevailing in the US Open.
Yet former Wimbledon champion Ivansevic believes
that this time the top seed, who has an overall 8-2 record against Nishikori,
will triumph after going neatly through the gears here at Roland-Garros
following a very patchy clay-court season.
“Murray’s playing better and better. I don’t see
Nishikori beating him. Nishikori is good for quarters, semis, but not more.
He’s going to crack. Andy is too good,” reckoned the Croatian, who has watched
the Scot blossom here since linking up with coach Ivan Lendl again.
“You have Lendl in your team, a player with so
much experience, and Andy knows what he has to do. Sometimes, you can play so
bad before a Grand Slam, then the Grand Slam comes, and you win somehow and you
don’t know why.”
Ivanisevic felt that after achieving his goal of
becoming world No.1 at the end of last year, the Scot had an inevitable
let-down. “He said ‘I have it’ but he didn’t start the season like he wanted
and he started to be a little not confident,” he mused.
Read more. Women's quarter-finals:
Pliskova, Garcia to face off “But he found himself at the right moment.
What’s the best way to find yourself? At the French Open, where you’re top seed
and last year a finalist. He wants to win. I saw him today, he’s playing very
well and looks very dangerous.”
McEnroe, America’s seven-time Grand Slam
champion, agreed. “I don’t think he was as far away (from his best) as
everybody was saying. It’s a matter of attitude. He’s tougher to beat at the
Slams, and I think he’s proving that now. The draw looked fairly tough at the
beginning but now you’d have to say you’d be somewhat surprised if he didn’t
get at least to the semis, if not the final.”
Serious obstacles lie in wait, though, even if
Murray does defeat Nishikori, who despite a fairly uneven tournament really did
look back to something like his finest in his fourth-set 6-0
wipe-out of Fernando Verdasco in the fourth round.
Favourite in the other quarter-final will be the
2015 champion and No.3 seed Wawrinka, who has yet to drop a set here - but then
neither has the buoyant Cilic, who sounds unusually bullish as he declares how
he is playing some of the best tennis of his career.
Wawrinka, though, does own a dominant record
against the Croat, having won 11 of their 13 contests, including the last seven
stretching back seven years and all four of their matches on clay.
Yet Ivanisevic warns against writing off the
No.7 seed - and he should know, having been the coach who guided his compatriot
to his lone and spectacular Grand Slam triumph at the US Open three years ago.
“You have a guy from Croatia there who’s playing
very well,” reckoned Ivanisevic. “First Stan has to beat Cilic. He’s confident,
he believes, so don’t underestimate him.”
Read more at http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/news/articles/2017-06-06/day_11_murray_wawrinka_favourites_in_quarterfinals.html?mosaic=rgstories#dEJkOlsTemregqzX.99
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