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Novak Djokovic declared himself "amazed" and "very, very proud" after reaching his second grand-slam final with a stunning upset of Roger Federer, the top seed and reigning champion, at the Australian Open.

The Serbian triumphed 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 and will play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the 22-year-old Frenchman in Sunday’s final. Tsonga put out Andy Murray, the British hope, in the opening round.

"It's amazing, an indescribable feeling to beat the No1 player of the world, probably one of the best players this sport has ever had, in straight sets," Djokovic said.

"I'm very, very proud of myself. I was feeling in control from the first moment and I tried to keep positive thoughts in my head all the time and not to have so many ups and downs in my game, which I did in our past matches.

"I'm just so amazed at how well I coped with the pressure, in the most important moments I played my best tennis."

Defeat ended Federer's hopes of winning the Melbourne tournament for the third consecutive year and, similarly, he will have to wait to move within one of Pete Sampras's record of 14 grand-slam titles.

It is the first time the Swiss has failed to reach the final of a grand-slam tournament since being defeated by Rafael Nadal, a clay-court specialist, in the semi-finals of the French Open in May 2005.

"He made the more important points today," Federer said. "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. I've not been really serving like the way I wanted to, maybe in the last few matches."

Federer fell to his first straight sets defeat in a grand slam tournament since a third-round defeat to Gustavo Kuerten at the 2004 French Open.

"I've created a monster that I need to win every tournament, he added. "Still, the semi-finals isn't bad."

The 26-year-old, who had been bothered by illness in the build-up to this tournament, showed glimpses of his top form, especially in the third set tie-break, but Djokovic, the third seed, held on for a famous victory.

Federer drew first blood in the seventh game of the first set, cleverly mixing his ground strokes to force Djokovic into a mistake and breaking the world No3.

In the crucial tenth game Djokovic lost his temper after playing a long forehand volley, smashing his racket into the court, but still recovered to convert his first break point and square the match.

But Federer did not consistently time his strokes as well as the 20-year-old Serbian, who took the next two games and the first set 7-5.

The pattern continued in the second set as Federer missed two powerful forehands, conceding two break points in the fourth game - the second of which Djokovic took with a phenomenal backhand pass. He then broke again in the sixth game to extend his advantage to 5-1.

Djokovic saved two break points in the next game before was unable to stave off a third, and Federer seemed to find his form.The young Serbian was then warned by the referee for taking too long on serve, but remained composed enough to take the second set with an ace.

Federer improved in the third set, getting a set point against serve in the 12th game, though Djokovic himself had chances to break Federer for the fifth time before it ultimately went to a tie-break.

Djokovic converted his first match point against Federer’s serve to reach his second-ever grand slam final, having lost to Federer in the final of last year's US Open.

He will start a hot favourite against Tsonga, who is the first unseeded player to reach his first ATP final in a grand slam tournament in 11 years, since Kuerten, and who began the tournament ranked 38 in the world.