For the first time in his career, Stanislas Wawrinka has played himself into a Grand Slam final. The eighth-seeded Swiss defeated Tomas Berdych in four sets on Thursday night (early Thursday morning stateside) in Melbourne to earn a shot at the 2014 Australian Open championship.
Australian Open 2014 results and bracket: Stanislas Wawrinka plays himself into men’s final
Wawrinka awaits the winner of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, while Na Li and Dominika Cibulkova advanced to the women’s singles final.
Michael Dodge
Wawrinka, who pulled off a dramatic upset of Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinal of the men’s singles, won the match 6-3 6-7(1) 7-6(3) 7-6(4). The three-hour, 32-minute affair was closely contested throughout; by match’s end, Wawrinka held a point advantage of just 143 to 142.
Wawrinka now awaits either Roger Federer or top seed Rafael Nadal, who face off on Friday.
On the women’s side of the bracket, Na Li and Dominika Cibulkova advanced to face each other in the singles final. Li, the No. 4 seed, played her way into a third career Aussie Open final by prevailing 6-2 6-4 over underdog Eugenie Bouchard. Cibulkova became the first Slovakian to reach a Grand Slam final at the Australian Open, cruising past Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-1 6-2.
Li and Cibulkova will meet for the women’s title on Saturday. The men’s singles title will be decided on Sunday.
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