Australian Open 2015: Novak Djokovic beats Stan Wawrinka and will now meet Andy Murray

Top seed Novak Djokovic defeated defending champion Stan Wawrinka in five sets to set up a meeting with Andy Murray in Sunday's Australian Open final.

The pair clashed for the third year running, but it failed to live up to the five-set marathons at Melbourne Park in 2013 and 2014 with a tension-filled clash going the way of the Serb 7-6 (7-1) 3-6 6-4 4-6 6-0 in exactly three and a
half hours.

Djokovic now has the chance to become just the second man to win more than four Australian Open titles - Roy Emerson won six between 1961 and 1967.

"As it was the last two years we played five sets, I was ready for the battle," Djokovic said in an on-court interview. "It was a great battle, we pushed each other to the limit and credit to Stan for playing well.

"I think I played well up to 2-1 and a break up and then I played a couple of loose games, I allowed him to come back into the match and Stan is a quality player. He knows how to use his opportunities. I made my life very complicated.

"The opening game in the fifth set was very close and making the break was a crucial turning point. My game depends on how well I move and I was too defensive in the second and fourth set and Stan stepped it up after that. In the fifth set I managed to stay consistent and serve well when I needed to and am so glad to go through."

Djokovic beat Wawrinka 12-10 in the fifth set in the fourth round before claiming his third straight title in 2013, but Wawrinka ended the world No 1's 25-match unbeaten run in the quarter-finals last year, winning 9-7 in the fifth.

Lack of quality

Friday's contest lacked the quality and drama of their two previous encounters.

Djokovic took his foot off the accelerator allowing Wawrinka to break serve in the seventh game, but the Serb quickly found his form to hit back in the very next game by breaking to love.

In the tie-break, Djokovic upped his tempo with his more accurate groundstrokes proving too good for Wawrinka to run away with it 7-1.

Both players were struggling to find any rhythm on the blue hardcourt of Rod Laver Arena, although it was the defending champion who took advantage by making the breakthrough in the sixth game of the second set before comfortably holding serve to level it up.

Four-time Melbourne champion Djokovic hit a rich vein of form at the start of the next set and raced through the first three games, but the Swiss fourth seed struck back to break and restore parity.

However, the 29-year-old Wawrinka succumbed to his opponent whilst serving to stay in the set at 5-4 to hand the seven-time Grand Slam champion the initiative and move one set away from another major final.

The steely-eyed Serb looked to be on his way after breaking in the opening game of the fourth, but Wawrinka hadn't read the script and struck back by breaking twice to take the clash into a fifth set for a third year in a row.

We have a very friendly relationship so it's nice to see we are playing another Grand Slam final against each other.

Wawrinka had a chance to break Djokovic in the opening game of the decider, but blasted a backhand long.

From there he promptly crumbled in what proved to be very one-sided ending with Djokovic sealing a rare 'bagel' set against a deflated Wawrinka to reach his fifth Melbourne final.

Wawrinka has now lost 16 of his last 17 matches with Djokovic, and the Serb, who has played far from his best tennis, will now be aiming to land his eighth Grand Slam crown on Sunday.

Murray lost to Djokovic in the final in 2011 and 2013 and is looking to become the first man in the open era to win the title after losing three finals. His other defeat came to Roger Federer in 2010.

Asked about facing Murray again after beating him in 2011 and 2013, Djokovic added: "Andy and I go back to when we were 12 years old, there is only a week difference in age. We have a very friendly relationship so it's nice to see we are playing another Grand Slam final against each other.

"Hopefully we can come up with a good match."