Wednesday 28 January 2015 14:56, UK
Reigning champion Stan Wawrinka stamped his authority on the Melbourne turf on Wednesday by securing an Australian Open semi-final spot and setting up the mouthwatering prospect of another epic clash with Novak Djokovic.
Wawrinka was in brilliant form as he stormed to a straight sets win over Japan's Kei Nishikori 6-3 6-4 7-6 (8-6).
The fourth seed has slowly worked his way into 2015's first Grand Slam but laid down his marker on a sun-drenched Rod Laver Arena, dominating Nishikori with power and compiling a detailed highlights reel of winners.
Wawrinka's backhand was particularly effective as he picked off his opponent from all points of the court, but the Swiss No 2 was also impressive rushing to the net, a relatively new weapon in his arsenal.
Wawrinka will play Novak Djokovic in Friday's semi-final after the World No 1 demolished Canada's Milos Raonic 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 6-2 in just two hours.
Novak had no problems taming eighth seed Raonic's dangerous serve before simply outclassing his opponent, breaking early in the second set and twice in the third, without giving up a single break point on his own serve.
He closed out the match with a clinical volley and will play the man that ended his title defence at Melbourne Park in last year's quarter-finals.
During the match a photo of Djokovic's three-month-old son started doing the rounds on social media. The photo, posted by his wife Jelena, showed the head of young Stefan in a baby chair, watching his dad play tennis on TV.
After the match Djokovic was shown the picture on the arena screen and said: "See how he enjoys watching TV? He's daddy's boy definitely,"
"I didn't know he was watching me this way, but I felt his energy. So that helped me tonight, definitely."
In the women's draw there was mixed fortunes for the Williams sisters as top seed Serena Williams powered into the semi-finals, but was denied a showdown with elder sister Venus, who lost out to USA compatriot Madison Keys.
Serena, an 18-time Grand Slam singles winner, took the opening set against Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova with two breaks of serve and fired down a total of 15 aces to complete a 6-2 6-2 victory in just 65 minutes.
Meanwhile Serena's sister Venus had earlier lost in three sets to Keys, a player 15 years her junior, in a match dubbed as being like watching 'Madonna and Taylor Swift singing on the same stage'. Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus said on Wednesday that, despite the loss, she will use her stirring Australian Open run as a springboard for further success as she bounces back from a lengthy illness.
With Keys now set to face Serena in semis, the Williams sisters can swap notes on the young star, who is trained by Lindsay Davenport and will be performing in her first Grand Slam semi-final.
After the match Keys told reporters what she plans to spend her prize money on after the tournament.
"I'm thinking I'm going to buy a new handbag," said Keys, who had previously never gone beyond the third round of a major. "I told myself if I make second week, I'll go out and buy a Louis Vuitton bag."
"There is no limit on what you can achieve. No one can stop you. Sometimes you may not win every match, but there's a lot of them you can win. Really, the sky's the limit for her and anyone out there."
- 34-year-old Venus Williams reflects on her feel-good run at this year's tournament
"Yeah, the tiebreaker was really close. If I could get that one (the attempted drop shot), it might change the whole thing. But he was serving really well until end of the set, so I think I have to give him credit."
- Kei Nishikori looks back on his third set tie-break comeback against Wawrinka
Follow our live coverage of Andy Murray v Tomas Berdych in the semi-finals of the Australian Open on Thursday January 29 from 8am across the Sky Sports digital products including our iPhone App.
