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Stan Wawrinka will appear in the Australian Open semifinals for the third time in four years. The fourth-seeded Swiss player cruised to a 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-3 quarterfinal victory over 12th-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France on Tuesday in Melbourne, Australia.
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Wawrinka captured the Australian Open in 2014 for his first Grand Slam title, then fell in the semifinals a year later.
His opponent Thursday will be either 17th-seeded countryman Roger Federer or unseeded German Mischa Zverev. In the fourth round, Zverev upset top-seeded Andy Murray of Scotland in four sets.
Wawrinka, 31, came through on the crucial points Tuesday, converting all three of his break points. Tsonga, meanwhile, finished 1 of 6 on break chances. Wawrinka amassed 14 more winners and committed 11 fewer errors than Tsonga.
"It's not easy to play against him. He's a strong player," Wawrinka said of Tsonga. "I think (the) conditions were quite fast today. It was a bit windy. Not easy to control (the ball).
"(I) started to move a bit better, to be a bit more aggressive from the first shot and I think that's made the difference."
The players exchanged words following the opening set, but it wasn't enough to derail the higher seed.
Wawrinka is in search of a fourth Grand Slam title. After his breakthrough Down Under, he captured the French Open in 2015 and then the U.S. Open in 2016. He is 3-0 in major tournament finals.
The second half of the men's quarterfinals will be played Wednesday. Eleventh-seeded Belgian David Goffin will face 15th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in an afternoon match (Australian time), and ninth-seeded Rafael Nadal of Spain will oppose third-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada in the evening.
Nadal, the 2009 Australian Open champ, is looking for his second championship in the event. He owns a 14-6 record in major finals. Raonic lost the Wimbledon title match last year, while Dimitrov and Goffin have never appeared in a Grand Slam final.
