Roger Federer magic refuses to go away at the Australian Open
— -- MELBOURNE Australia -- Stan Wawrinka was working his way through a fourth-round match against Andreas Seppi in Margaret Court Arena when an addled fan sought to encourage him with a shoutout.
"Let's go, Roger!" he yelled.
Wawrinka turned to address him.
"He's not here, he's on Rod Laver," said Wawrinka, pointing toward the largest court at Melbourne Park.
You have to feel for Wawrinka. He was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, separated from the greatest tennis player of his generation by only four years and 125 miles, the distance from Basel.
Roger Federer was the big brother Wawrinka could never, ever live up to.
And even three subsequent Grand Slam titles, achieved over Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, haven't helped Wawrinka get over this very considerable hump. Thursday night in the semifinals of the Australian Open, it was no different.
But that doesn't mean there wasn't drama.
With both players compromised by apparent injury, the No. 4 seed threw a serious scare into Federer and those fans nostalgic for a sparkling, marquee final.
Federer ultimately dismissed the No. 4 seed, 7-5, 6-3, 1-6, 4-6, 6-3. And so a rich slice of history beckons.
The 35-year-old is the oldest man to reach a Grand Slam final since Ken Rosewall, who was 39 when he reached the US Open final in 1974.
On Sunday, Federer will play the winner of Friday night's match between Rafael Nadal and Grigor Dimitrov.
The prospect of another Federer-Nadal championship final -- a possibility that did not exist in most minds a few weeks ago -- has tennis fans positively giddy.
Federer, clearly, is one of those. Back in October, he helped Nadal open his tennis academy in Mallorca, Spain.
"I said, 'I wish we could do a charity match or something,'" Federer explained in his on-court interview. "He had the wrist injury, and we were playing with juniors.
"A few months later, we're maybe both in the final. I think both of us never thought we'd be here."
The four-time Australian Open champion reversed a disturbing trend, winning his first semifinal here after dropping his last five, against Novak Djokovic and Nadal.
It took a weak double fault by Wawrinka at the end of the sixth game in the fifth set to finally make the match Federer's.
Federer's famously diverse game has always been unnaturally fluid and flexible. After taking six months away from the game to rehabilitate his injured knee, there's been a freshness in his movements around the court at Rod Laver Arena this fortnight.
After two forgettable warm-ups against qualifiers, Federer ran into hard-hitting No. 10 Tomas Berdych in the third round. He played a very nearly flawless match, diffusing the Czech's power and dropping all of 10 games. No. 5 Kei Nishikori presented a different problem: extraordinary court coverage and variety of sharp angles from the baseline. But Federer made it a game of target practice, scorching 83 winners in that one.
Next up was Mischa Zverev, one of the best volleyers in the game, as No. 1 seed Andy Murray found out. But Federer beat the German at his own game, winning 72 percent of his points at net, versus only 40 percent for Zverev.
Wawrinka is a different kind of cat. He has huge shots on both sides, a serve to match, and in recent years, he's discovered that he belongs with the game's elite. Federer elected to come forward more against Wawrinka, early and often, in an attempt to force the issue more quickly and exploit Wawrinka's lack of quickness. In the end, Federer just held his nerve a little longer.
The last time Federer beat three straight top-10 players at a major? Seven years ago, right here, the last time he won the title.
Serving for the match, Federer had to check the score.
"I felt like everything happened so quickly," he said. "Is it 5-3, 40-0 love? I'm doing the interview -- it's real.
"Yeah. It's real now. I can actually talk about playing in the finals. I've been dodging that for the last few days. I never ever in my wildest dreams thought I'd come this far in Australia. But here I am."
