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Novak Djokovic

MELBOURNE. — Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka stunned three-time defending champion Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open tennis tournament yesterday in a huge shock which threw the men’s competition into flux.
The eighth seed triumphed after a pulsating five-set quarter-final which ran for exactly four hours and finished 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 9-7 when Djokovic volleyed out on the first match point.

It was a personal triumph for Wawrinka (28), who took Djokovic the distance in last year’s fourth round and was also denied by the Serb in another five-setter at the US Open.

Wawrinka’s win halted Djokovic’s 25-match winning streak at the Australian Open, which stretched back to 2011 and included 2012’s record, six-hour final against Rafael Nadal.

It also snapped the six-time Grand Slam champion’s sequence of 14 straight major semi-finals, and broke a 28-match unbeaten run dating back to the US Open final in September.

“Last year (at the Australian Open) I didn’t finish it and it was really tough.
“But this year I came back, it’s a new year and I was feeling really good,” Wawrinka said.

“I tried everything, he’s an amazing champion . . . I’m really, really, really, really happy.”
Wawrinka, who was cramping by the end and headed straight for an ice bath, goes into his second Grand Slam semi-final where he will face Tomas Berdych after the Czech ousted third seed David Ferrer.

Li Na blazed past Flavia Pennetta to set up a last-four clash with emerging teen star Eugenie Bouchard (19), who beat former world number one Ana Ivanovic.

But the earlier results were eclipsed by Wawrinka’s great upset which ensures that a player from outside of the men’s “Big Four” will contest the Melbourne final.

Djokovic bombed through the first set in just over half-an-hour but he stumbled in the second, and looked increasingly tight in the third, as Wawrinka took a two-sets-to-one lead.

The champion was tottering but just when he looked to be heading out against the increasingly confident Swiss, he broke for 5-3 in the fourth set, letting out a mighty yell to the heavens.

He sealed the set with an ace to take it into a fifth, where they exchanged early breaks and Wawrinka staved off another break point at 2-1 down with a titanic, 31-shot rally.

The decider stretched on until the 16th game. — AFP.