Wawrinka will now face the winner of Novak Djokovic and Milos Raonic in the semi-finals.
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Defending Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka has powered into the semi-finals following a straight-sets win over Kei Nishikori on Wednesday.
Despite winning in straight-sets the Swiss didn’t have it all his own way in the 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) win, with Nishikori pushing him throughout the clash.
Wawrinka made the early breakthrough in the first set after he broke the Japanese star’s serve in the fourth game.
Nishikori was not prepared to let the first set go without a fight, and despite saving two match points, the fifth seed was unable to prevent Wawrinka from taking out the first set.
Wawrinka once again stamped his authority on the game in the second set and made a breakthrough midway through the set.
Nishikori again threatened to mount a fight back and forces Wawrinka to save three break points in the tenth game, before serving the game out to take a two-set lead.
The momentum began to swing in Nishikori’s favour however when he raced out to a 2-0 lead in the third set, but Wawrinka showed his big-game confidence by breaking his opponent back under pressure.
The remainder of the set was tightly-contested and resulted in a tiebreak.
Both Wawrinka and Nishikori traded point-for-point in the tiebreak, but it was the world number four who held his nerve at 6-6 to go on and book a spot in the semi-finals.
Wawrinka will face the winner of tonight’s clash between Novak Djokovic and Milos Raonic.
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