Swiss eighth seed Stanislas Wawrinka has made his first ever grand slam final after knocking out Czech Tomas Berdych in the semifinal in four tight sets. In a match that could have gone either way, Wawrinka took his opportunities as he confined Berdych to a 6-3 6-7 7-6 7-6 loss in just over three and a half hours. With both players enjoying great runs through the tournament, it would be the player with the most discipline that’d win through to play either Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal in the final.

Both players’ service games were impenetrable as the match soon became one that would be ultimately decided by who would falter on their serve. The Czech seventh seed was the first to do so as he netted a forehand and handed Wawrinka a break point. He only needed one break point as he took his opportunity and broke to take a 5-3 lead. Wawrinka held his nerve and his serve to win the first set 6-3.

Both players were hitting the ball with extreme clarity, which made for an incredibly high standard of baseline rallies. As each player began to find their rhythm with their serve, games became fast as they were both holding with ease. This stalemate led to three tiebreak sets, for very little separated them in skill and execution.

It would eventually be the seventh seed who would lose his nerve and eventually the match as he lacked Wawrinka’s discipline at crucial times. The match really came down to statistics. At the conclusion of the match, Wawrinka won 143 points to Berdych who won 142. Although the difference was one point, for Berdych, it was the difference between a grand slam semifinal and a grand slam final.

After the match, a disappointed Berdych felt he really couldn’t have played any better tonight. “It was a very good match. I played very well,” said a dejected Berdych.

“I built the tactics and the game plan on my strength. It was working pretty well. Just there was one thing that I miss, and it was my service game in the first set. Other than that, I was able to play aggressive, not to do that many mistakes.”

Berdych also observed that it could have gone a different way on a different night. “The match was extremely even and it was really so close,” he lamented. “It's really hard to find what could be the difference. I mean, we both played great. Stan was just the one that took it, and that's it. The tiebreak is always a big lottery, and he was the lucky one today.”

On the other hand, an extremely pleased Wawrinka felt as if both players didn’t perform at their best. “It was really close for sure. It was a strange game,” he said. “I don't think we played our best tennis, but we served really well. We were really aggressive on our service games. The games were going really fast tonight, so it wasn’t easy to make some long rallies and to make him work.”

The Swiss said his earlier wins gave him confidence because he knows his game is good enough to beat the best. “The most important (thing) is that my game is there,” he said.  “If I make the final here, it's because I beat Berdych tonight; I won against Novak also. I had some great matches. So that means I have the level to be there.

And while he looked forward to playing whoever made the final, Wawrinka would love to play Federer. “To play a Swiss final will be amazing, first for Switzerland, for the country. He is the best player ever. For me it's my first final. To play against Roger would be amazing.”

One piece of the Australian Open men’s final is now in place as the world looks to tomorrow’s blockbuster match between Roger Federer and world No. 1 Rafael Nadal. On paper, Nadal should win through to the final against Wawrinka. But tennis matches aren’t played on paper.