Wawrinka savours second Open semi

Stan Wawrinka says he has more confidence than ever after taking a giant step towards defending his Australian Open crown.

Wawrinka was at his swashbuckling best in a 6-3 6-4 7-6 (8-6) quarter-final elimination of Japanese wonder Kei Nishikori, reaching the last four in two hours and four minutes on Wednesday.

The Swiss fourth seed’s reward is a Friday night clash with either world No.1 Novak Djokovic or Canadian eighth seed Milos Raonic for a place in Sunday’s final.

Wawrinka has now made the semi-finals at the same major twice for the first time in his career, and said there was one big difference to his preparations 12 months prior.

“Now I have a grand slam (trophy) at home, I have the confidence from that,” he said.

“I know I can make it, I trust my game, I trust myself on the court even when we start to play semi-finals or finals in a grand slam.

“I think we all improve every year.

“Today (I was at) a great level, it was a great match.”

Against Nishikori, Wawrinka’s serve was a particular strength, upping his speed from previous rounds and winning 86 per cent of first-serve points and clinching the match with his 20th ace.

The score would have been even more emphatic if Wawrinka had taken more of his opportunities to break – converting just three of 11 chances.

By contrast, Nishikori failed to earn a single break point until the final game of the second set.

The reigning champion worked Nishikori around at will with glorious stroke-making that found the corner of the court from seemingly any position.

Nishikori, who missed the chance to become the first Japanese man into the last four at the Australian Open in 83 years, was expected to be Wawrinka’s first major challenge after he’d reached the quarter-finals for the loss of just one set.

The US Open runner-up did show some fighting qualities, saving three set points in the opening set and then five match points from 1-6 in the third-set tiebreaker.

But an ill-timed drop shot attempt proved his undoing, with Wawrinka not letting Nishikori off the hook a sixth time.

“I was not going to get to that ball,” Wawrinka said of Nishikori’s drop.

“It was a crazy tiebreak, but a good tiebreak. It was good to finish in three sets.”

The usually dynamic Nishikori had simply met his match in Wawrinka, who was stronger and more energetic.

The win earned Wawrinka a measure of revenge for his five-set loss to Nishikori in last year’s US Open quarter-finals and extended his 2015 winning streak to nine after he won the Chennai lead-up event.

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