Fedex tames Stanimal, surges into Australian Open final

The ageless Roger Federer showed his experience and perseverance once again as he downed world number 4 Stan Wawrinka 7-5, 6-3, 1-6, 4-6, 6-3 and entered the final of the Australian Open at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne on Thursday.

Wawrinka did all he could to fight off his good friend and fellow countrymen but Federer held firm during clutch moments, wearing down Wawrinka in 3 hours and five minutes.

Roger will compete for his 18th Grand Slam singles title when he meets either Grigor Dimitrov or old nemesis Rafael Nadal on Sunday.

As the match began, an aggressive Federer was literally toying with his compatriot. In the first set, Federer displayed exceptional net prowess to counter Wawrinka's power.

Wawrinka wasn't giving up either and he managed to save three game points in his second service game and made inroads into Roger's third service game earning for himself 2 break points. Federer roared back despite Wawrinka's best efforts and went on to win the game and eventually clinched the set.

The second set was even more impressive from Federer as he mixed up his attacking and defensive play with much flamboyance throwing off Wawrinka.

Federer glided a forehand winner in Wawrinka's third service game to earn two break points. Though Wawrinka managed to save one, but a backhand error into the net cost him the game. Federer then held firm to bag the set 6-3.

Wawrinka, who seemed to be nursing a knee problem, covered his face with a towel and left the arena for a medical time-out. What followed from there on was Wawrinka's resurgence and newly-found belief that put all the pressure back on Federer.

Wawrinka started the third set with a bandage on knee and slow movement. Like Federer said in the post-match interview "He (Stan) let it go and that worked for him. Stan

was playing with nothing to lose," two-sets down, Wawrinka came back hard at Federer believing that he could turn it around.

Federer seemed to have gone off the boil in the third and fourth set and Wawrinka staged a stirring comeback. Stan was on fire after that, forcing errors out of the Swiss great. With his deft forehand and beautiful length on the ball, the fourth seed managed to frustrate Federer. Wawrinka broke the Swiss legend in the ninth game of the fourth set to force it into a fifth set.

Federer took a medical time-out after the fourth set and came back to the arena with his task cut-out. Wawrinka stretched Federer to the maximum forcing him to dig deep into his inner reserves.

Federer began defensively but got back his mojo on time as costly errors from Wawrinka gave him the momentum. From there on, it was Federer all the way and Stan could do precious little to deny the Swiss maestro his first final since 2015 US Open.