The backhand was beautiful, as always. But what impressed Stan Wawrinka the most about his 6-7(6), 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(3), 6-1 Roland Garros semi-final victory on Friday against Andy Murray was his mental toughness and the fight he showed against the top seed.

Wawrinka fell behind two sets to one after Murray answered the Swiss star’s impressive second set by taking the third set. But Wawrinka, who had lost to Murray during the 2016 Roland Garros semi-finals, stayed in the match and squeaked out the fourth set tie-break. Wawrinka then ran away with the fifth set to reach his second Roland Garros title match.

Four hours. Five sets. One victor.

How @stanwawrinka got revenge on Murray.#RG17 pic.twitter.com/yXhXQv73mn

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 9, 2017

“I think it was mentally a tough battle today, especially in five sets against Andy. It was a little bit windy, so it’s not always easy to play your best tennis. But I’m happy with what I did on the court, the way I was fighting, even if I was down. The way I was trying to keep my line, trying to keep being aggressive, keep going even if I lost a lot of points by some incredible defence from him,” Wawrinka said.

“For sure it wasn’t easy to be two sets to one down. When you play a player like Andy Murray, you know that you can dominate the games, but he’s still going to be there. He’s still going to do incredible defence, play the right tennis in the right moment. That’s why he’s No. 1 in the world. So when you enter in a Grand Slam against him, you have to accept that. You need to keep trying to focus on what you do.”

In a way, Wawrinka did what he’s done all fortnight-long in Roland Garros – shut down outside distractions and focus only on the point ahead of him. The Swiss star said it’s as if he becomes a different player at times during big matches or at big tournaments.

“That is why I have been able to win Grand Slam tournaments and other tournaments and play great matches when I had to. Mentally, when I arrive on a big tournament or in a big match, it’s like closing, switching off everything in my body except my brain, which I put in winning mode,” Wawrinka said. “Of course, I can lose, but I think I’m extremely confident about what I do, about how I feel, about all the hard work I have accomplished over the past days, weeks, months, years. I know that mentally when I’m there, it’s difficult to beat me.”

The 32 year old is a perfect 3-0 in Grand Slam finals. Wawrinka beat Rafael Nadal during the 2014 Australian Open final, and the right-hander beat Novak Djokovic for the 2015 Roland Garros title and the 2016 US Open crown.

Wawrinka will put his perfection on the line against Nadal’s Roland Garros perfection when they meet for the 2017 Roland Garros crown. Nadal is 9-0 in Roland Garros finals and is trying to become the first man or woman in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam 10 times.

“I think to play Rafa on clay [at Roland Garros] in a final is probably the biggest challenge you can have in tennis. He’s the best player ever on clay. He’s going for his 10th Roland Garros, so it’s something really impressive, something tough. It’s for sure going to be really difficult. But again, at the end of the day, it’s the final. The pressure is on both players. No one goes on the court thinking he has no pressure. We both want to win the title, and we both are going to give it all on the court,” Wawrinka said. “He’s for sure going to be the favourite with what he’s done in the past… We will see what’s going to happen on Sunday.”

Rafael Nadal’s historic clay-court season will reach its apex on Sunday as the Spaniard will attempt to win his record 10^th Roland Garros title and his third “La Décima” of the season.

Nadal advanced to his 10^th Roland Garros final on Friday by avenging his lone clay-court loss of the season, dismissing Austrian Dominic Thiem 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 in the semi-final.

On Sunday, Nadal will meet another former Roland Garros champion in third seed and 2015 titlist Stan Wawrinka, who prevailed past top seed Andy Murray 6-7(8), 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(3), 6-1 in four hours and 34 minutes during Friday’s earlier semi-final.

Something will have to give during what should be a battle of a final. Wawrinka has never lost in a Grand Slam title match, having won all three of his earlier finals, including the 2015 Roland Garros title match against Novak Djokovic and the 2014 Australian Open final against Nadal.

But Nadal has never fallen in a Roland Garros final. The left-hander is a perfect 9-0. He also leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 15-3 and is 5-1 against Wawrinka on clay.

The 30-year-old Nadal has looked nearly unbeatable this fortnight as well. Through six matches, Nadal has yet to drop a set and has lost only 29 games – just two games off the Open Era record for fewest games dropped into a Grand Slam final.

Fewest games dropped in reaching a Grand Slam final*

(*In the current 128-draw format where all-matches played were best-of- 5-sets)

The Spaniard also should be fresh. Nadal has spent only about 10 hours on court. Wawrinka, meanwhile, has spent more than 15 hours on court.

No man or woman has won 10 titles at a Grand Slam in the Open Era, since April 1968. Nadal won Roland Garros crowns in 2005-08 and ’10-14, and another Roland Garros title would give Nadal a trio of “La Décimas” this season.

The Spaniard captured his 10th title at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters and at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. On clay, he also won his fifth Mutua Madrid Open crown.

Thiem kept Nadal from winning the only other clay-court tournament the Spaniard contested, knocking out Nadal in the quarter-finals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. But Thiem, who said he played one of his best matches on that day, couldn’t replicate his top level as Nadal rolled throughout their seventh FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting.

The Spaniard won the opening point with a backhand winner and pumped his fist after, showing how much a strong start meant to the nine-time Roland Garros champion. The two exchanged breaks until Nadal held for a 2-1 lead.

With Thiem serving at 1-2, Nadal pounced, bringing up three break points. But Thiem found success bludgeoning his forehand against Nadal, saving three break points with three consecutive forehands to get back to deuce. Nadal didn’t go away, however, and broke two points later for a 3-1 lead.

For the match, Nadal would finish six for 10 on break points; Thiem went one for eight.

The Spaniard sought to stay away from Thiem’s forehand and instead, target his one-handed backhand, the strategy Nadal focused on during their three earlier match-ups this season as well. On set point, Thiem smashed a backhand long to give Nadal the opener.

The 30-year-old Nadal started better in the second set as well, erasing two break points in his opening service game and breaking Thiem during an 11-point game to lead 2-1. Nadal would hold to love to take a two-set lead. He cruised in the third set, needing only 32 minutes to wrap up the last-four contest and improve to 22-3 in Grand Slam semi-finals.

Andy Murray has edged ahead in a pulsating semi-final contest with Stan Wawrinka at Roland Garros to lead 7-6(8), 3-6, 7-5, with the match ticking into its fourth hour.

The winner will face either nine-time champion Rafael Nadal or Dominic Thiem in Sunday’s final. 

Murray, contesting the Roland Garros semi-finals for the fifth time, used every ounce of his guile and defensive skills to sneak the opener. It was a set Wawrinka will know he should have won. The Swiss served for it at 5-3, and held a set point in the tie-break, but his go-for-broke play proved his undoing as well as his weapon, as his unforced error count mounted, due in no small part to Murray’s phenomenal defence. 

After thwarting Wawrinka’s bid to serve for the set in the ninth game, Murray then edged a nervy tie-break, which saw both players squander leads. Murray twice had a mini-break advantage, but neither time managed to build on his lead. The Dunblane native came in behind his first serve at 5/5, but it was Wawrinka who won the game of cat and mouse at the net to earn his first set point. The Swiss failed to convert, though, as he fired a backhand into the net – one of 23 unforced errors he committed in the set, compared to just 10 from Murray. Murray then seized his own set point opportunity, steering the point his way with a brave backhand topspin lob in the wind, and sealed the opener as Wawrinka dumped a forehand return into the net.

But the 2015 Roland Garros champion would not be cowed. Wawrinka struck back in the second set, keeping Murray under constant pressure with a continuing barrage of shots. The 32-year-old Swiss brought his unforced errors down to 15 for the set, and fired rockets from the baseline to keep Murray scrambling. Murray dug himself out of a nine-plus minute game at 2-2, saving a break point, but he could not keep Wawrinka at bay in the seventh game. Feeling the pressure, Murray double faulted to go down 0/40 and could only watch on as Wawrinka rifled a backhand winner to seal the break.

This time, Wawrinka made no mistake with his lead. The Lausanne native went after Murray’s serve again in the ninth game and secured the set at the first opportunity, firing a forehand winner off the return to level the match.

Commentating for Eurosport, John McEnroe remarked that Murray was “paralysed” in the face of the explosiveness and pace coming off Wawrinka’s racquet, and the Scot appeared flat the start of the third set as Wawrinka raced to a 3-0 lead.

Volée gagnante pour @stanwawrinka qui mène 3/0 dans la 3e manche face à @andy_murray #RG17 pic.twitter.com/sDE4aEsaGc

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 9, 2017

Murray stopped the run of seven games against him as he dug in to hold serve, though, and he seized his opportunity as Wawrinka’s level dipped in the following game to get the break back. In a set that would swing both ways, Wawrinka again went up a break to lead 4-2, but Murray once more hit back. It seems likely Wawrinka would have scored yet another break in the eighth game, were it not for some improvised defence from Murray at key moments, including a half-volley lob at 15/15.

Having held for 4-4, Murray might have rued two missed break points in the following game as his trusty backhand return temporarily deserted him at 15/40. But the Scot responded well to hold for 5-5 and then scrapped his way to the decisive service break in the 11^th game. After Paris’ take on the Mexican Wave, the Scot was able to serve out the third set.