Djokovic Overcomes Defending Champion Wawrinka to Reach Australian Open Final

Djokovic Overcomes Defending Champion Wawrinka to Reach Australian Open Final

  • Posted: Jan 30, 2015

djokovic60 Djokovic Overcomes Defending Champion Wawrinka to Reach Australian Open Final

 

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic is through to the final of the Australian Open once again, where he will be looking to capture his fifth title in Melbourne.

The Serbian star took part in a turbulent contest against defending champion Stan Wawrinka, and eventually downed him 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 in three hours and 30 minutes.

“A couple points decide a winner in these particular matches when you’re playing for Grand Slam final,” the top seed said after his semi-final win. “I can say I’m glad; of course I’m happy and satisfied to go through. I’m proud of the fighting spirit that I had. But the level of performance was not where I wanted it to be.”

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Djokovic survived 42 winners from Wawrinka and hit 27 of his own. The difference was in the unforced errors, which Wawrinka hit 69 of.

“I’m surprised we went five sets again, even if the last one was 10 minutes,” said Wawrinka. “We had some great battle here the last two years. Today was a strange match. He was there playing good enough to win and he deserved to win and play the final.”

Djokovic will now contest the Australian Open final against a player he had faced there before: Andy Murray. The sixth seed overcame Tomas Berdych in four sets to reach the final, and will now have to overturn Djokovic’s undefeated record in final matches on Rod Laver Arena.

“Andy and I go back to when we were 12 years old,” said Djokovic. “We know each other for a long time. It’s nice to see we’re playing another Grand Slam final against each other. We’ve played many, and hopefully we can come up with a big match for all of you guys.”