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Wawrinka: I feel really confident

This match will be important only if the French take a point in the first game of the day. Wawrinka was amazing in singles and doubles, and is the best player of the weekend. Monfils is right behind with a spectacular win against Federer. The French won that one without losing a serve

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Some team sports have teams that play better away than at home. Wawrinka explained more than once why he doesn't play well in Switzerland. His perfectionism. He usually struggled in Basel and Gstaad, and did in the Davis Cup against Kazakhstan. He lost to Golubev, and was the weakest player in the doubles' defeat. They did pass, got to these finals, but after two days played in the DC finals, Wawrinka is convincingly the best player of the weekend.

He started against Tsonga in an impressive way, aggressively from the start. He forced Tsonga to be defensive by coming into the court, and had 14 winners in the first part. Tsonga only had one game and four winners. The French part of the audience were quiet, while the Swiss drove Tsonga crazy with bells. The second set Tsonga won, but it was a gift. Wawrinka pulled a risky second serve on the break ball and made a double error. He played aggressively for the rest of the game, and it bore fruit. He won the third set, lead with a break in the fourth, and broke Tsonga. The rest was formality.

- There's always a special pressure in the DC. Especially with Roger's injury. We all saw he was struggling, trying to do everything to play on Friday. Luckily, we have a good team, we cooperate, and I know how to play big games. There were so many in my career, especially this season - Wawrinka commented after the big win with 60 winners. He loved the fact that he showed the French that Federer isn't the only good player here. 

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Switzerland convincingly won in the doubles, and Wawrinka was the best player. They saved all five break-balls, and got one in every set.

The only light in the French tunnel is Monfils. Tsonga complained that the French fans were too quiet in the first singles game, they were not supportive enough. That same audience drove Federer crazy later on, but with a different player on the French side. Monfils played excellent, and lead the audience to a frenzy. Even the coach Clement had to calm him down in the rallies. 

Federer was petrified in the first set. You could see insecurity in his movement because of his back problem. Gael used it the best way possible, scoring nine out of ten aces, leaving Roger with one game, and leading 2-0 in sets. It was too late for the Swiss after that, he admitted it himself. A game like this one never happened to him. Unfortunately for the home team, the French doubles didn't show the third of Monfils's energy on Saturday. 

- It was one of the best three matches of my career. To be honest, I was really nervous at the beginning. Jo lost his match, which added pressure on me, but I became my true self quickly enough. I enjoy playing on big stadiums and feeling this kind of atmosphere. The audience were fantastic, they helped me a lot, gave me energy when I needed it. That's why I went for the winners. I believed in them, and they rose the audience up. I'm especially happy with my serve, to defeat Federer without losing a serve is simply incredible.

Only if the French take a point from the first match today, this match will be important with the result. Monfils is the one who has to wait. As for Wawrinka, he has the reason to feel confident. He was great on Friday and even better on Saturday. He didn't play much against Monfils. Three years ago the last time, four matches total. Every time on concrete, so the 2-2 ratio doesn't really matter.