While the Wednesday match-up appeared to be entertaining affairs on paper, all four of the matches, including both of the ones on the men’s draw, were generally one-sided affairs. In the end, both Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka stood tall, and set up their third consecutive meeting at the Australian Open.

Top seed Novak Djokovic advanced to the semi-final stage of the tournament with a straightforward victory over Milos Raonic 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-2. The Serb faced little resistance in the match-up after the first set and cruised into the final four with little difficulty. He now sets up the latest encounter in the riveting rivalry between himself and Stan Wawrinka, who reached the semi-final with a straight sets win against Kei Nishikori.

“I take a lot of confidence [into the match],” said Djokovic. “I try to carry that in every next match, next challenge. Obviously I’m going to play Stan, who is the defending champion here. We played five-set matches at the 2013 and ’14 Australian Opens. I’m going to be ready for a fight. But knowing that I have raised the level of performance tonight, and probably playing the best match of the tournament so far is affecting my confidence in a positive way. Hopefully I can carry that into next one.”

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Wawrinka, however, believes he is playing even better tennis than last year.

“I know that now I have a Grand Slam back at home,” said the Lausanne native. “I have the Grand Slam trophy. I won the Davis Cup also. I have the confidence from that. I know I can make it. I trust my game. I trust myself on the court, even when we start to play semi-finals or finals in Grand Slams.”