French Open results 2017: Stan Wawrinka eliminates Andy Murray in 5-set thriller

Stan Wawrinka has advanced to the finals of the 2017 French Open, winning a five-set thriller over Andy Murray in the semifinals on Friday, 6-7(6), 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(3), 6-1.

Murray entered the French Open as the top seed but not the favorite, given some lacking play during the clay court season to this point. Wawrinka, consistently overshadowed among the top four players, looked great in forcing a five-setter.

Wawrinka, the third seed, will wait for the semifinal before he knows his opponent in the finals. The other semifinal will also be played today, featuring fourth seed Rafael Nadal and sixth seed Dominic Thiem.

Wawrinka faced Marin Cilic in the quarterfinals and looked incredible against the seventh seed. He won that match in straight sets. He’ll hope that whoever wins between Nadal and Thiem has as long and grueling a match as he had against Murray on Friday.

The first set was very competitive, with neither player making many mistakes. Actually, Wawrinka did hit 23 unforced errors, but he also had 22 winners, both numbers more than Murray. Still, the first set went to a tiebreak that was narrowly won by Murray, 7-6(6).

Things flipped on Murray in the second set when Wawrinka won 77 percent of his first serves. He also won 67 percent of his second serves and converted on two of three break point attempts. Murray didn’t even sniff a break in the set, and it went in Wawrinka’s favor, 6-3.

The third set saw Wawrinka’s play hit another level. He was all over the court, and Murray couldn’t slip anything past him. Wawrinka consistently dominated at the net, and Murray just couldn’t keep up with him. Wawrinka went up by three in the set, but Murray battled back. He won a service game and then managed to break Wawrinka to catch up.

When his serve came back around though, Wawrinka fought him hard. They saw deuce several times, and Wawrinka eventually got the break. But Murray fought back and broke Wawrinka with a beautiful backhand and took control of the set from there. He went up 6-5 and served for the set, holding without issue to go up two sets to one.

The fourth set was hotly contested, with both players going all out. It ended up going to a tiebreak with nobody earning a break. Wawrinka held on to win the tiebreak and force a fifth set, however, sending the match past the four-hour mark.

Murray served to start the fifth set, but Wawrinka scored an early break and then held serve to go up 2-0 in the deciding set. He broke Murray again to go up 3-0, held serve again, and held a dominant 4-0 lead in the match. He broke Murray yet again and served for the win, but Murray did get a break point attempt.

And Murray did get the break, but Wawrinka pushed him and had a triple match point attempt on Murray’s serve, and he got it on his first attempt.