Gasquet stuns Wawrinka, enters Wimbledon semis

Richard Gasquet pulled off a memorable upset in the Wimbledon quarter final by beating fourth seed Stan Wawrinka in five gruelling sets. The Frenchman beat this year’s French Open winner 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 11-9 to set up a semi-final clash against defending champion Novak Djokovic. 

Richard Gasquet hits a shot during his match against Stan Wawrinka in their quarter-final at Wimbledon. REUTERS/Toby Melville

Gasquet made a bright start as he took the first set after breaking Wawrinka’s serve once.

However, the Swiss player hit back swiftly winning the next two sets. Having taken a 2-1 lead, Wawrinka, who has been in commanding form lately, was the favourite to win the match. However, Gasquet was in no mood to give up. He fought valiantly to win the fourth set.

In the fifth and deciding set, Gasquet had taken a 5-3 lead and was just two points away from winning the match before Wawrinka fought back and levelled the score. The two players held serve before Gasquet finally managed to secure the precious break in the 20th game of the set.

Speaking after the match Gasquet said that Wawrinka had big confidence after Paris and that he had to fight. “I really wanted to win. It's a great feeling as it's a big match," he said.

Meanwhile in other quarter-final encounters, top seed Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray eased into the semi-finals.

Djokovic made the semi-finals for a sixth successive year by demolishing ninth seed and US Open winner Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

While second-seeded Federer reached his 10th Wimbledon semi-final with a 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 win over Frenchman Gilles Simon, Murray registered an easy 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 win against Canadian Vasek Pospisil.