Alexander Zverev pulls off impressive comeback vs Stan Wawrinka to reach first Australian Open semi-final

Alexander Zverev silenced his critics with a stunning comeback victory against Stan Wawrinka to reach the Australian Open semi-finals.

The 22-year-old looked way off the pace in the first set and found himself a set down inside 24 minutes to the excellent Wawrinka.

But the German found his rhythm on serve in the second, winning all 20 of his serve points in the set before taking the third.

With Wawrinka looking jaded, the seventh seed was able to secure an early double break before clinching a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 triumph in two hours and 19 minutes at the Rod Laver Arena.

It means Zverev qualifies for the last four of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career in his 19th main draw appearance and will face the winner of Rafael Nadal against Dominic Thiem.

Despite his collection of 11 title wins on the ATP tour, Zverev had never got past the quarter-final of a Grand Slam and, against the 2014 champion Wawrinka, it was never going to be an easy task.

In the first set Wawrinka came racing out of the blocks, dominating every point and taking advantage of some horrendous errors from Zverev to secure a double break and 5-0 lead inside 20 minutes.

Zverev managed to avoid the bagel but the match seemed to be heading in one direction when Wawrinka took the first set 6-1.

Something about his performance seemed to spark life into Zverev, who started to find his rhythm on his huge serve and began to trouble Wawrinka with a flurry of love holds.

Soon, he looked unbeatable in that regard and the statistics showed it: 16 serves, 16 points in his favour. Wawrinka, meanwhile, blundered to hand over a crucial break and Zverev served out the set with a 100 per cent record on his serve to take the lead.

Finally, the crowd were seeing the Zverev they had heard so much about but seen so little of. A hammer of a serve with 13 aces clocking at 135mph and some sumptuous forehand winners to go with it.

In the fourth set, Wawrinka looked weary and jaded, so it was no surprise to see Zverev nick a double break to lead 4-0. The 15th seed fought on, taking the next two service games, but Zverev was unstoppable at this point and he wrapped up the match with another ace to seal one of the biggest wins of his short career.