Intro:

Top seed Novak Djokovic overcame defending champion Stanislas Wawrinka in five sets on Friday (January 30) to reach the final of the Australian Open in Melbourne.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova won the women's doubles final on Friday (30th January) beating Chan Yung-jan and Zheng Jie 6-4, 7-6 (5).

Script:

Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka have a history of epic duels at the Australian Open.

In the two previous years at Melbourne Park, five sets had been required to separate the two the openening game of their semi final this year gave an immediate indication that five sets may well be needed again.

After being extended to a tie-break in set one, the world number one raced through, 7-1 to take the first set.

Back came the defending champion in the second - a break in the sixth game putting him on the way to clinching it 6-3.

Into the third - and Djokovic edged in front again, taking the set 6-4.

The four-time winner had not dropped a set en-route to the semis - he was about to concede his second of the match - some loose shots contributing to his demise.

The Swiss took the set 6-4 - but the effort appeared to have drained him.

The decider was no contest.

Unforced errors played a key part- Wawrinka accumulated 69 in all.

The fifth went the way of the top seed, 6-0.

Djokovic will now face Andy Murray in the final for the third time in five years.

Earlier in the day American Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic won the Australian Open women's doubles title in their first tournament as a combination.

They beat Chan Yung-jan of Taiwan and China's Zheng Jie 6-4, 7-6.