So, who had Stan Wawrinka in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 over defending U.S. Open champion Andy Murray? That's what just happened.
Wawrinka, the old doubles partner of Roger Federer, is heading to his first Grand Slam semifinal appearance, likely against Novak Djokovic. He was terrific. He went for broke in this match—he was at the net 42 times, winning 21 of those point sand had 45 winners in a match that barely broke two hours—and it paid off.
Murray played like crap. He had 30 unforced errors to 15 winners, and had exactly zero break opportunities. He looked like the Murray of 2010 when he was bounced in the third round in the U.S. Open. That was when the press—especially the British press—was getting ready to write Murray off since he said stuff like this:
I have no idea of whether I’ll win a Grand Slam or not. You know, I want to. But, you know, I mean, if I never win one, then what? If I give a hundred percent, try my best, physically work as hard as I can, practice as much as I can, then that’s all I can do, you know.
[...]
It’s a very difficult thing. But I don’t know. I don’t know if I’ll win a Grand Slam or not
Who'd Murray lose to that day that it drove him into such existential angst? Wawrinka. Anyway, the nice news is Andy Murray has an Olympic gold, a U.S. Open and a Wimbledon title! It's been a successful year, even if we saw flashes of the old Andy this afternoon.
And with Federer gone from the U.S Open, his Swiss buddy Wawrinka moves on. Let's appreciate how weird the Swiss are. Wawrinka retweeted this from a @SwissMinipeople.
Another look at that: