In their sixth career head-to-head meeting, it was Stan Wawrinka defeating Kei Nishikori 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-2, to advance to the Men’s Final at the US Open. Despite a valiant effort by the 26-year old, Wawrinka was able to advance where he will face top-seed Novak Djokovic on Sunday.

It was routine service holds for both players early in the first set of the second semifinal.  But Nishikori was the first to strike, breaking the Swiss’ serve with relative ease to gain a 3-2 advantage and would quickly consolidate it. The native of Japan confidentially closed out the first set.

Looking to build upon his first set success, Nishikori moved Wawrinka around the court, mixed in effective drop shots and kept him off balance. This led to an early service break in the second set. But it was short-lived as Wawrinka began to find his rhythm and benefited from a bad stretch of serves by the six-seed. However, after dropping his serve to the 3-seed, Nishikori stopped the bleeding and regained the momentum that he had lost. He pressured the Wawrinka serve to gain break point opportunities but could not cash in.

After surviving the push, the consistent Wawrinka would strike back, as Nishikori began to show signs of heavy legs. He would break serve, win the set, and even the match.

Early in the third set, Nishikori continued to look weary as unforced errors crept into his game. Perhaps the physical toll from his marathon win over Andy Murray began to play a factor. Wawrinka raced out to a 4-1 lead as he has looked to strike his opponent with the knockout punch but Nishikori continued to battle despite noticeably slowing down.

Then, looking to shorten the points and with the New York crowd attempting to lift him, Nishikori broke back and caught a break as the rain began to fall. He was given an opportunity to find his second wind as play was halted until the Ashe Stadium roof could be closed.

Nishikori found some energy as play resumed and the two players traded lasers shots from various positions on the court. Facing a break point, Wawrinka fought to stay on serve as he attempted to pump up the crowd. And with Nishikori serving to stay in the set, he took advantage of a subpar serving game to break and take an advantage in the match.

Wawrinka looked to have gained total control of the match in the fourth set as he earned another service break. But Nishikori summoned up one more push, fighting back to regain his lost serve. But he did not have enough gas left to consolidate the break as the 31-year old was too consistent and finally wore down his opponent for good.

The Swiss reflected on his strategy during the match, “Tried to make him a little bit uncomfortable,” Wawrinka said. “He also started to get tired a little bit. That's when I start to be aggressive.”

Meanwhile, it was a match with many missed opportunities for Nishikori who could capitalize on just 4 of his 15 break point chances. “That's really disappointing, especially second set,” he said. “That was the biggest mistake. After that he was playing better.”

The veteran will be in search of his third major title on Sunday but Djokovic has a career 18-4 edge in their series.