Wawrinka untroubled by Tsonga at Australian Open
Swiss star Stan Wawrinka eased past Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Australian Open quarter-finals.
Stan Wawrinka cruised past a lacklustre Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to reach the Australian Open semi-finals.
The Swiss fourth seed had few problems on his way to a 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 6-3 win against Frenchman Tsonga on Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday.
Wawrinka, into his eighth major semi-final, capitalised on a below-par performance from Tsonga.
The 2014 champion in Melbourne only dropped serve once throughout the two hours, 14 minutes, with Roger Federer or Mischa Zverev awaiting in the last four.
A somewhat heated exchange between the players at the end of the first set brought some much-needed life to the quarter-final.
Both seemed in cruise control throughout the opening set before Tsonga played a poor tie-break to fall behind.
It was unclear exactly what the exchange at the sit-down was about, but it seemed to briefly fire Tsonga up.
The French 12th seed broke serve for 4-3 in the second set, only to be broken to love in the next game.
Three-time major winner Wawrinka closed out the set with another break and went 3-0 up in the third on his way to a surprisingly comfortable win.
STATISTICAL BREAKDOWN
Wawrinka [4] bt Tsonga [12] 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 6-3
WINNERS/UNFORCED ERRORS
Wawrinka – 41/28
Tsonga – 27/39
ACES
Wawrinka – 4
Tsonga – 7
BREAK POINTS WON
Wawrinka – 3/3
Tsonga – 1/6
FIRST SERVE PERCENTAGE
Wawrinka – 54
Tsonga – 53
PERCENTAGE OF POINTS WON ON FIRST/SECOND SERVE
Wawrinka – 71/65
Tsonga – 74/43
TOTAL POINTS
Wawrinka – 108
Tsonga – 85