Novak Djokovic shattered Roger Federer's air of invincibility with an emotional and jaw-dropping Australian Open semi-final victory over the world No.1.

Djokovic fought back tears of joy after his 7-5 6-3 7-6 (7-5) triumph in the 2007 US Open final rematch, brought a spectacular conclusion to Federer's run of 10 straight grand slam final appearances and may also have heralded the dawn of a fresh new era in men's tennis.

The 20-year-old Serb will square off with 22-year-old Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Sunday's championship match at Melbourne Park in possibly the beginning of the end of Federer's four-year reign atop of the rankings.

It will be a first-time meeting between the two young upstarts and the first major final not involving Federer since the 2005 French Open when he lost to Rafael Nadal in the semis.

Suddenly, Pete Sampras's all-time record of 14 grand slam crowns must seem a world away for the 26-year-old Swiss superstar.

"It's just an amazing and undescribable feeling to beat the No.1 player of the world, probably one of the best the sport (has) ever had, in straight sets," Djokovic said.

"I am very, very proud of myself.

"It's difficult to play against a player who is dominant on every surface. He has all the crowd behind him but I amazed with the way I coped with the pressure.

"In the most important moments, I played my best tennis."

Federer's first straight-sets loss at a major since falling to Gustavo Kuerten in the third round of the 2004 French Open leaves him with 12 slams.

Unless he can fracture Nadal's claycourt dominance with a maiden French Open triumph in five months' time, he would need to collect an unprecedented sixth consecutive Wimbledon trophy and secure a fifth successive US Open title just to draw level with Sampras.

Federer would then need to keep his growing queue of ambitious and impatient pursuers - headed by Djokovic, Tsonga and Nadal - at bay in 2009 to finally overhaul the American.

And that will not be easy, for Djokovic and Tsonga are two young men in a real hurry.

Still four months shy of his 21st birthday, Djokovic entered the blockbuster as the youngest player in 40 years of professional tennis to reach the last four at all four majors.

In dispatching Nadal in equally brutal fashion in the first semi-final on Thursday night, Tsonga qualified for his first grand slam final in only his fifth major.

When Federer broke Djokovic in the seventh game of the match to grab a 4-3 advantage in the opening set, few at Rod Laver Arena could have predicted the incredible drama about to unfold.

Serving for the set at 5-4, Federer handed the break back with two dumped backhands into the net and, in a twinkling, then overcooked two more backhands to gift the third seed the set.

Suddenly, it was game on.

The supremely-confident Serb has been spruiking for the past year about being the man to dethrone Federer and, with the first set safely tucked away in his back pocket, he wasn't about to let up now.

He raced to a 5-1 lead in the second set with two more breaks before bouncing back from the double disappointment of dropping his own serve and copping a time violation from French chair umpire Pascal Maria to seize a two-set buffer with his eighth ace of the match.

Staring defeat in the face, the pressure continued to mount on Federer and the two-time defending champion had to fight off four break points in the third game of the third set just to stay alive.

Having dodged those bullets, Federer had two small windows of opportunity himself to make a match of it but Djokovic came up with two monster serves to stave off break points at 5-6.

Federer eventually submitted with his 32nd unforced error of the match to set the stage for the first grand slam final in 10 years featuring two players chasing their first majors.

Federer could only agree that his conqueror handled the tight moments better.

"It was a tough match, I thought. A lot of ups and downs, like the usual matches we have actually against each other," he said.

"But I think he made the more important points today.

"It was a bit unfortunate for me, but he did play well and served really well when he had to.

"There's no doubt I've played better in my life. That's for sure. I've not been really serving like the way I wanted to (for) maybe the last few matches.

"Look, it happens. But he covered the court well. He didn't give me much. So that obviously played a role in the way I played tonight.

"But, you know, I wasn't completely satisfied."

Federer came into the tournament having not played since November after being struck down with an untimely bout of food poisoning upon his arrival in Australia three weeks ago.

"Considering my illness, I'm sort of happy with the result here," he said.

"Of course, I've created a monster, so I know I need to always win every tournament. But semis is still pretty good.

"I'll analyse and see if I have to make changes for next year. But, honestly, I think I did play pretty good.

"I didn't play my best throughout the championships, but it was pretty solid, so it was okay."

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