Djokovic beats defending champ Wawrinka to reach final
by Associated Press
MELBOURNEJan 31, 2015 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Associated Press
Jan 31, 2015 12:00 am
Novak Djokovic reached his fifth Australian Open final with a five-set win over defending champion Stan Wawrinka that fell flat compared with their previous encounters at Melbourne Park. The top-ranked Djokovic finished over the top of Wawrinka in a seesawing 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 win on Friday night to set up a final against long-time friend and rival Andy Murray, a player he has beaten twice in the championship match in Australia. Djokovic has a 100 percent winning record in finals at Melbourne Park, claiming his first Grand Slam title here in 2008 and winning three straight years from 2011 before his run was ended in the quarterfinals last year by Wawrinka.
The previous three Grand Slam meetings between Djokovic and Wawrinka had gone five sets, including two at the Australian Open that lasted a combined nine hours. The Serbian player has now won 17 of their 20 career matches. Djokovic won 12-10 in the fifth in the fourth round in 2013 that lasted five hours and two minutes the fourth-longest match in Australian Open history and Wawrinka won 9-7 in the fifth in the quarterfinals last year. He now shares the record with Roger Federer and Stefan Edberg for reaching the most Australian finals in the Open era Federer won four of his five and Edberg won twice.
Wawrinka made his career breakthrough here last year, when he beat Djokovic, Tomas Berdych and Rafael Nadal to claim his first Grand Slam title, but he hadn't been past the quarterfinals at a major since his return to Melbourne Park. Sixth-seeded Murray, who has lost three Australian Open finals, moved into the championship match with a fiery four-set win over No. 7 Tomas Berdych on Thursday night.
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