US Open 2013: Men’s semi-final preview - Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic look set for a blockbuster final

Novak Djokovic (1) v Stanislas Wawrinka (9) (Head-to-head: Djokovic leads 12-2)

Serbia Novac Djokovic and Switzerland Stanislav Wawrinka meet at the net after Men’s 4th Round match at Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia 1/20/2013 (Photo by David Callow /Sports Illustrated/Getty Images)

As the World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and Stanislas Wawrinka prepare to take their rivalry to a new level, it was a certain unforgettable match that these two warriors played that keeps coming in all the discussions. It was the epic five-setter in the fourth round of the 2013 Australian Open that remains etched in everybody’s minds and became pivotal for the Swiss’s career. He lost the match, but it instilled him with a lot of belief and conviction about his game.

“It’s one of the key [matches] of the season, for sure,” said Wawrinka. “That was a really tough moment, but at the end I was really positive with that match because all Australian Open my level was better than ever.’’

Wawrinka surely has kept building on it, winning a title and reaching a Masters final, and in his US Open quarter-final match against the defending champion Andy Murray, all that he has been tirelessly working on with his new coach Magnus Norman came to the fore. The Swiss No. 2 played a brutally attacking game, serving and volleying and putting Murray off-balance.

His transition game from defence to offence was beautiful to behold, and with 45 winners and no break points to concede, he played an almost perfect match. At 28, by reaching his first ever career major semi-final, Wawrinka has finally come out of the shadow of his illustrious compatriot Roger Federer, and started holding his own against the world’s top players.

But how much will that help him to push through the seemingly insurmountable barrier called Novak Djokovic? The 2011 US Open champion arrived in Big Apple on the back of two unsatisfactory results at Montreal and Cincinnati, but always expect the Serbian to redeem himself as quickly as no other. He hired Ivan Lendl’s former coach Wojtek Fibak as his new consultant to help him with his tactics and concentration during his quest for his second US Open.

And the results have been showing! Novak has been thoroughly aggressively defensive in his matches, pulling the trigger with his angling forehands and returning excellently.

He has a 55% return game winning percentage and has been serving at a solid 70% as well. In his first four matches he was yet to drop a set too – in other words, Novak Djokovic has looked as threatening as possible for his opponents.

That surely does not make Wawrinka’s life any easier. To have a chance of putting Novak under pressure, the Swiss has to keep up his raw aggression and see to it that nerves don’t impede his progress. Having said that, Novak Djokovic hasn’t been totally impenetrable. He did show his moments of lapses and sudden weariness that cost him a set against Mikhail Youzhny. Wawrinka has to hope that the Australian Open winner does come up with an encore of such moments!

Prediction: Novak Djokovic in four sets.