Andy Murray has defeated Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland in a match of the Rakuten Japan Open at Ariake Coliseum, Tokyo. With this victory, Murray has made his way into the semi finals of the competition.
Murray won the match by 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. It took Murray approximately two hours to defeat Wawrinka. This was the 12th match between these two players and Murray has won eight of them.
Murray started the match brilliantly. He gave Wawrinka the first blow in the very first game of the match. He served out the second game to make the score 2-0. The next two games went with the serve and the score was 3-1 at the end of the fourth game.
Murray broke Wawrinka’s service again in the 5th game and then, held his service in the next game to take a lead of 5-1. Wawrinka needed a couple of breakthroughs to come back into the set, but, Murray didn’t let that happen. He served out the 8th game to win the first set by 6-2.
Wawrinka bounced back in the second set. He broke Murray’s service in the fourth game to take a lead of 3-1. He held his service in the rest of the games and won the second set by 6-3.
But, the US Open champion lifted his game in the final set. The first three games of the final set went with the serve and the score was 2-1 in the favour of Murray at the end of the third game. Wawrinka’s service was broken in the fourth game and the score became 3-1. Both the players held their service in the next three games.
Wawrinka needed to hold his service in the eighth game to extend the match, but, that wasn’t the case to be. Murray got his second breakthrough in the set and wrapped up the match by winning the final set by 6-2.
In the semi final, Murray will play against Milos Raonic of Canada.