ROLAND GARROS MEN’S SINGLES: Wawrinka, Murray and Gasquet battles through. Ramos-Vinolas in his first..

3rd seed and defending champion Stan Wawrinka will play in his 3rd Roland Garros quarter-final after a hard-fought victory over 22nd seed Viktor Troicki by 7-6 6-7 6-3 6-2 in just under 3 hours time. Troicki made Wawrinka run for his money, especially in the first two sets, but Stan raised his level after losing the second set to bring the match home safely in the next two. Troicki played one of his best matches in recent times but he had strength only for the first two hours, not being able to parry his opponent in the final 60 minutes. Serb fought well, looking almost even with Wawrinka in the rallies, but his weaker second serve made the difference in the end, as Stan did well to dominate on the return in those occasions. Swiss star had a shaky start, allowing deuce in his first service game, but he held and sailed through the next 5 games on his serve. Troicki managed to stay in touch, winning the crucial points on his serve to keep the pressure on Stan (in 4 consecutive games it was 40-30 on Viktor”s serve but he would always win the next point to close the game), who in the end finally got his chance on return. That happened in the 12th game when he had 4 break/set points but Troicki saved them all to force a tie break. Stan quickly gained a 6-2 lead and he sealed the set on his 8th set point, taking the tie break 7-5.

In the second set Stan was more aggressive, hitting more winners but also more unforced errors, while Troicki opted to play in a more safer mode which was also a good tactic. This set was much longer than the first, with both players creating chances on return and it started with 3 …

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