Wawrinka had a major breakthrough against Djokovic in a thrilling five-set win in their quarterfinal match at the 2014 Australian Open, and he followed that up with a stunning four-set win in the 2015 French Open final, which made Djokovic wait another year to complete his career Grand Slam. He's not going to catch up to the top three players of the so-called Big 4 (Federer has 17 Grand Slam championships, Nadal 14, Djokovic 12), but tennis historians might be arguing for years over whether Murray or Wawrinka is the fourth player in this remarkable grouping.
But in Wawrinka he faces a player who knows how to win slam titles. When the guy is too good, playing clean and you're playing not that good, you need to change.
Mattek-Sands and Safarova broke Garcia again in the opening game of the third set.
Caroline Garcia, of France, returns a shot to Bethanie Mattek-Sands, of the United States, lower left, and Lucie Safarova, of the Czech Republic, during the women's doubles final of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Sunday, Se.
Down a set and a break on Friday, the third-seeded Wawrinka took control to oust Japanese Kei Nishikori 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-2. It was just so uncharacteristic and very unusual to see a player in the semi-finals of a grand slam at the beginning, basically first set, just start to, you know, move around and play like that or behave like that.
Djokovic beat Federer past year in the major in Flushing Meadows, New York in four sets, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
"I had to wait and fight and make him a bit uncomfortable and he started to get exhausted".
This matchup will be Djokovic's seventh U.S. Open final, and Wawrinka's first.
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Djokovic, playing in his 21st Grand Slam final and seventh in NY, was quickest out of the blocks. "I think I played quite a lot of tennis these two weeks". It was the middle weekend of the Open and Wawrinka faced match point in the fourth-set tiebreaker against the lightly regarded Dan Evans of Britain.
"I was completely caught off guard when he just stood there and chipped the ball back and didn't do much", Djokovic explained.
The second semi-final at the Arthur Ashe stadium saw a tiresome and exhausting encounter between Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori.
A late developer who won his first major at 28, Wawrinka is the sort of man who becomes more boisterous as a party goes on.
"I am really excited, I am really happy, I want to enjoy the moment", Wawrinka said. "We played nearly four hours but he came out on top and he was a better player, he was tougher", Djokovic said.
"Novak, you're a great champion, a great person, because of you I'm where I am today".
Stan Wawrinka won the US Open final against an uncharacteristically tiring Novak Djokovic on Sunday night. However, he has been able to beat the Serb during his winning campaigns at 2014 Australian Open and 2015 French Open.
