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 Defending champion Novak Djokovic, seven-times title holder Roger
Federer and home hope Andy Murray all kept to their side of the
bargain with straight sets wins. But Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka, the
French Open champion, let the side down.
Then again, there was no shame in a 6-4 4-6 3-6 6-4 11-9 defeat
against a daring man playing one of the matches of his life in a
contest dubbed "the battle of the backhands".
Gasquet, a former world junior champion who has fallen short of the
heights expected of him, served for the match at 5-3 in the fifth
set but fourth seed Wawrinka broke back, gesturing with a finger
pointed to his head that he had the mental edge.
But Gasquet, whose trademark single-hander, like Wawrinka's near
identical backhand stroke, has the purists purring, showed
remarkable resolve to withstand a barrage.
With Wawrinka a proven warrior and a bona fide member of the elite
after winning the 2014 Australian Open and succeeding Rafa Nadal as
French Open champion, you feared the worst for Gasquet.
As the backhands fizzed diagonally across the net with
ever-increasing intensity the 21st seed kept his nose in front.
Five times Wawrinka held serve to stay alive.
At the sixth time of asking, however, Gasquet forged 0-40 ahead and,
although two match points went begging, Wawrinka fired a backhand
long to end the duel.
"It was very difficult for me to lose that serve at 5-3," Gasquet,
who destroyed Andy Roddick at the same stage in 2007 only to lose to
Federer in the semi-final, told reporters.
"I kept fighting. That made the difference."
MENTAL FORTITUDE
While Gasquet in full flow has always been a joy to behold, his
mental fortitude has been questioned.
He lost to Australian Nick Kyrgios here last year despite having
nine match points and two years ago at Roland Garros he went down
8-6 in a fifth set to Wawrinka.
"It's a revenge for me a little bit," he said. "It's great to win.
After 2007, it's been a long time."
"I'm proud because there are big players in the semis. I'm the worst
when you see Federer, Djokovic and Murray."
Gasquet will have to scale the same heights, and some, to have any
hope of reaching his first grand slam showpiece at the 43rd attempt
as Djokovic awaits in the semi-final.
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A few weeks ago on Paris clay he managed only six games against the
world number one Serb who clinically took U.S. Open champion Marin
Cilic apart 6-4 6-4 6-4 on Wednesday.
After Djokovic's scare against Kevin Anderson in the previous round,
when he extricated himself from a deep hole, Djokovic cruised into
his 27th grand slam semi-final after extending his domination of
Croatian Cilic to 13-0.
"I'm hoping I have that extra gear. I'm hoping it can come out now
in the semi-finals," the 28-year-old said.
RAIN DELAYS
Federer was more inconvenienced by a couple or irritating rain
delays as he swept past Gilles Simon in the day's first Switzerland
v France contest on Court One, winning 6-3 7-5 6-2.
The only blot was finally dropping a service game after 116
successive holds stretching back to last month's Halle Open.
Third seed Murray, playing in the quarter-finals for the eighth year
in a row, was kept on his toes by the only non-European in the last
eight, Canada's unseeded Vasek Pospisil, but with a royal audience
in the shape of Prince William and his wife the Duchess of Cambridge
he delivered a 6-4 7-5 6-4 win.
He has faced nobody ranked higher than 23 so far but things are
about to get considerably trickier with second seed Federer looming
on Friday.
The last of the Swiss maestro's 17 grand slam titles reduced Murray
to tears on finals day in 2012, though a few months after that
Murray beat the Swiss on Centre Court to win Olympic gold.
"It will bring back those memories of a great summer for both of
us," Federer told reporters.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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