Third seed Stanislas Wawrinka will face eighth seed Marin Cilic on Friday in the A Group of the 2014 World Tour Finals in London.
This year’s Australian Open champion has started out the tournament against Tomas Berdych, and was actually considered to be the underdog by the oddsmakers, despite the fact that he led the Czech 9-5 in the head to head department. The reason for that was Wawrinka’s poor form prior to the year-end tournament.
The Swiss quickly showcased a level of play that allowed him to win his first ever Grand Slam and Masters 1000 titles this season. He only allowed a grand total of two games throughout the match, winning it 6-1, 6-1. To (virtually) book a place in the semifinal, he had to defeat top seed Novak Djokovic. That did not happen, in fact Wawrinka only managed to win a grand total of three games.
With his 3-6, 0-6 loss, the Swiss will more than likely have to win at least a set against Cilic. The Croatian started out the tournament against the Serbian, and just like Wawrinka, he did not have a chance to get the victory. The Serbian routined him for the 11th time, winning the match 6-1, 6-1. To keep his hopes alive, the Croat had to defeat Tomas Berdych.
Didn’t happen, Instead it was the Czech who avenged his US Open loss, essentially sending the Croat home. Their upcoming match will be the 10th encounter between Wawrinka and Cilic, and the Swiss leads the head to head 7-2, including winning the last three.
Although theoretically Cilic could still advance, he would have to beat Wawrinka without barely losing any games if any, which is of course a highly unlikely premise, especially because the Swiss is the clear favorite of their upcoming match.