World number eight Stanislas Wawrinka pulled off a career milestone at the Australian Open 2014 after the Swiss number 2 reached his first career Grand Slam final. Wawrinka defeated Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6 at the Australian Open 2014 semifinals on Thursday night.
“I feel great. It’s amazing,” said Wawrinka. “I didn’t expect to make a final in a Grand Slam in my career. Tonight it’s happening, so I’m really happy. I’ve been working really hard for many years, trying to improve my game, trying to get some big matches in big stadiums. Now I’m in my first final in a Grand Slam, so I can be only really happy.”
Wawrinka could potentially meet compatriot Roger Federer in the final in what will be touted an all-Swiss Grand Slam encounter. However, Federer will have a formidable opponent in the other semifinal wherein he’s slated to face 13-time Grand Slam champion RafaeL Nadal.
“To play a Swiss final would be amazing, first for Switzerland, for the country,” said Wawrinka. “He is the best player ever. For me it’s my first final. To imagine to play against Roger would be amazing.”
Wawrinka is working with current coach Magnus Norman and it paid dividends so far this year with him winning his fifth title at Chennai Open and reaching the final here in Melbourne. He’s still undefeated in 2014. He also dethroned three-time defending champion Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals.
“Already last year I had the feeling that I was playing better, but I was dealing better with the pressure also,” said Wawrinka. “I’m more mature. I’m 28 now. I’ve been on the tour for 10 years. Now I feel that it’s my time to play my best tennis. I’m enjoying more what I’m doing, when I’m winning, and also maybe I know more how to deal with all the pressure around.”
“He’s the player who made the biggest improvement of his game in the last year,” said Berdych of Wawrinka. “Since he started to work with Magnus his tennis is really, really a different level. You can see it in the results. Really there is no question about it.”
The match was as close as it gets with Wawrinka winning 143 points while Berdych won 142.
“The match was extremely even and it was really so close,” said Berdych. “It’s really hard to find what could be the difference. I mean, we both played great. We played a good match. Stan was the one that just took it, and that’s it.
“Basically the game plan was working nearly perfect. But just the tie-break is always a big lottery, and he was the lucky one today. I’m starting to get quite annoyed with the matches losing in tie-breaks. I’m not pretty good in that. I can give you quite many examples of losing matches in tie-breaks. I need to improve that, definitely.”
