Wimbledon 2015: Writers Awards – Best Match
1. <p>One candidate for this award is definitely Serena Williams’ third round match against Heather Watson of Great Britain. Williams cruised to win the first set but then dropped the second set. She was down two breaks in the third set and Watson even served for the match. Willliams, however, persevered and won the third set 7-5.</p> <p>2002 Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt’s swan song at Wimbledon also merits consideration. Although just a first-rounder, the Aussie’s match with Jarkko Nieminen went to a fifth set with Nieminen winning, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0, 11-9.</p> <p>Despite the length and sentiment behind this match, my pick for the best match is another one with a score of 11-9 in the fifth set: <strong>Richard Gasquet’s</strong> quarterfinal match against <strong>Stan Wawrinka.</strong> Gasquet won the first set, but Wawrinka appeared to seize control of the match, winning the next two sets in fairly quick fashion.</p> <p>Yet, the resilient Frenchman fought back in the fourth to take that set 6-4. The tightly contested fifth set had the two players going back and forth holding serve until, finally, Gasquet broke Wawrinka in the 20<sup>th</sup> game of the fifth set to secure his first trip to the semifinals since 2007.</p> <p>Because of the stakes for Gasquet and the quality of this match, I’ll give this Best Match, although the other candidates are definitely viable.</p>. Writer. Lob and Smash. CHRISTOPHER WEIS