Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland in action against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France during Quarterfinals of the Men's Singles at the Australian Open in Melbourne, Australia, Jan 24, 2017. [Photo/IC]

Tsonga's best response came in the second set when he broke Wawrinka in the seventh game after the Swiss botched a simple volley and hammered another unforced error.

But after Tsonga handed serve straight back, broken to love, tension threatened to boil over again as Wawrinka came forward to smash a winner directly at his opponent.

He waved an apology, but Tsonga walked away.

Wawrinka stormed on relentlessly, breaking Tsonga twice more with a display of pure power hitting to take the second set.

Tsonga went a break down quickly in the third but had one last chance to rally when Wawrinka gave up a break point at 4-2.

The Swiss slammed the door shut, however, crushing a forehand deep into the corner and then rushing forward to put away the volley.

Within minutes he had three match points, and his third semifinal at Melbourne Park was sewn up when Tsonga pushed a defensive lob over the baseline.

While a semifinal against Federer would hold no fear for Wawrinka, he said he was fully aware his compatriot would be the crowd favorite as he bids for an 18th Grand Slam title.

"It's going to be tough to have some fans, but hopefully a few will cheer for me," Wawrinka said in a courtside interview.