For the first time, Switzerland has a man other than Roger Federer in a grand slam tennis final.

Now Stanislas Wawrinka, who edged out Czech Tomas Berdych in a tense Australian Open semi-final on Thursday night, waits to find out whether Federer will join him.

The 17-time major champion plays world No.1 Rafael Nadal in the second semi-final on Friday night.

Eighth seed Wawrinka booked his place by beating seventh seed Berdych 6-3 6-7 (1-7) 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-4) in a serve-dominated clash.

Wawrinka had ousted four-time champion Novak Djokovic in a four-hour five-setter two nights earlier.

That match was full of long rallies and spectacular shot-making.

But Wawrinka’s battle with Berdych was mostly made up of short points and all about who could blunt their opponent’s serve.

Berdych was the only player to lose his serve for the night, just once.

Wawrinka was down just one break point.

But the few mistakes Berdych did make on serve cost him dearly.

Down a break point for the first time, in the eighth game, the Czech made a major blunder, mis-hitting what should have been a straight-forward smash, to give Wawrinka a 5-3 lead.

The Swiss served out the set.

Berdych wasn’t down another break point until the seventh game of the second set.

He responded strongly to start a remarkable run of 23 winning points on his serve.

That included the second-set tiebreak, which Berdych dominated, playing his best tennis of the match, with power hitting from the baseline and some timely moves to the net to pile the pressure on Wawrinka.

The momentum continued Berdych’s way for much of the third set, in which the Czech lost just four points on serve before the tiebreak.

But the booming serve that had been such a weapon then misfired badly.

Berdych double-faulted to hand Wawrinka a 4-2 lead, then again to give him the set.

The Czech threw in another crucial double-fault in the fourth-set tiebreaker and while Wawrinka served one himself on his first match point, he clinched it on his second.

Wawrinka’s win could give Federer a morale boost, after the 32-year-old admitted he was fist-pumping and high-fiving when his countryman beat Djokovic.