Wawrinka qualifies for ATP Tour finals semi

Wawrinka set up a meeting with Federer, his partner in the Davis Cup final for Switzerland next weekend, needing just 12 minutes to win the three games which guaranteed a semi-final place for a second year running.

Fresh from breaking Cilic's serve to move into that 3-1 lead, Wawrinka looked sharp and in no mood to let up, taking the first set in 32 minutes. It looked odds on that an 11th encounter among the 12 round-robin matches would not go beyond two sets.

Instead, the rarity of a proper contest breaking out suddenly materialised when Wawrinka threw in an absent-minded service game at 4-5 in the second set, getting broken to love.

In the decider, Wawrinka, perhaps already thinking ahead to the Federer game, seemed even more distracted as was again immediately broken but he regrouped and broke back, reeling off four straight games to prevail after one hour 45 minutes.

By the end Australian Open champion Wawrinka was playing with some of the panache he will need to earn a rare win over Federer, who leads 14-2 in their head-to-heads, and Cilic finally capitulated with a double fault on the final point.

It was one of the better games of a tournament which has had more than its share of flat spots but the sell-out crowds will be hoping for a couple of closer semi-finals with the alluring prospect of a Djokovic-Federer final showdown on Sunday.