Stan Wawrinka revels in victory as Roger Federer looms

World number five Stan Wawrinka said Wednesday's straight-sets win over fellow seed Kevin Anderson was his best performance at Flushing Meadows this year.

Wawrinka was at his exquisite best as he cruised to a 6-4 6-4 6-0 quarter-final victory in one hour, 46 minutes at the US Open.

The two-time grand slam winner and reigning French Open champion won 94 per cent of his first serves and tallied just 15 errors throughout the contest compared to a whopping 42 from 15th seed Anderson, who failed to back up his stunning victory against Andy Murray.

Wawrinka had not been overly convincing en route to the quarters but the Swiss star appears to be peaking at the right stage of the tournament.

"For sure [it was] the best match of the tournament for me. I was really happy the way I play," Wawrinka said afterwards.

"I was focused on doing what I wanted on the match. I was trying to be really aggressive on the return and make him play a mix or some slice, some aggressive play from the baseline."

Wawrinka's performance earned him a semi-final showdown with countryman and 17-time grand slam winner Roger Federer.

Federer has held the upper hand against Wawrinka, with the world number two boasting a 16-3 head-to-head record.

However, Wawrinka has won two of the last five encounters since April last year, including a straight-sets victory at Roland Garros in May, having lost 11 consecutive matches prior to 2014.

"I think now we both nervous when we enter the court. Before it was only me. I was nervous because I knew I wasn't at his level, for sure," Wawrinka said."And now I think we can see that he was also nervous every time we play each other the past few years.

"That's a big difference, because that show how much he knows that I can play at his level, how much he knows that I can try to play my game and not just try to react about what he's doing."