Stan Wawrinka beats Kei Nishikori to advance to U.S. Open final
Stan Wawrinka rallied to beat Kei Nishikori in four sets in Friday's U.S. Open men's semifinal, setting up a showdown with Novak Djokovic on Sunday.
Wawrinka, the tournament's No. 3 seed, earned a 4–6, 7–5, 6–4, 6–2 victory over Nishikori, who failed in his bid to make his second U.S. Open final in three years.
After dropping the first set 6–4, Wawrinka turned the match around in the second set. Nishikori went up an early break, but Wawrinka settled down and got the set back on serve. He broke Nishikori in the 12th game of the set to avoid a tiebreaker and level the match.
Nishikori was three of 11 on break point opportunities over the first two sets.
Wawrinka is 4–20 all-time against Djokovic, who beat Gael Monfils in the other men's semifinal on Friday. But Wawrinka has scored two high–profile victories over Djokovic in Grand Slams: a quarterfinal upset of Djokovic at the 2014 Australian Open, and another shock victory in the 2015 French Open final.
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Djokovic and Wawrinka last played at the 2015 Paris Masters, where Djokovic won in three sets.
Wawrinka will play in his third Grand Slam final on Sunday. He won titles at the Australian Open and French Open.
