PARIS — Stan Wawrinka had made it into his first French Open final at age 30, and the first question that came his way at his news conference involved Roger Federer.

“Great for that first question to put Roger in it,” Wawrinka said.

It has been a challenge — and remains a challenge — to find the spotlight in the Federer era, but Wawrinka has made the bigger impact in Grand Slam tournaments in the past two seasons.

After winning his first major title at the Australian Open in 2014, Wawrinka is quite an upgrade here from last year, when he lost in the first round.

“It’s difficult to keep a cool head every week,” he said. “That’s the big difference with the Big Four.”

Clearly, the Big Four — Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray — have set a new standard for oligarchical rule.

But Wawrinka is threatening to turn into tennis royalty himself. His tough, grinding 6-3, 6-7 (1), 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, of France, on Friday at Roland Garros was a reflection of his growing self-belief and maturity.

“A Roland Garros final is a dream for me,” said Wawrinka, who comes from French-speaking Switzerland and won the French Open junior title in 2003. “It’s a tournament I appreciate. I feel at home even though the French fans are of course supporting the French. It’s the tournament I watched when I was young, and I’ve always loved playing on clay.”

It remains unclear who he will play. Djokovic, the No. 1 seed, and Murray, at No. 3, arrived in semifinals with undefeated records on clay this season. But their match was stopped because of an impending storm, with Djokovic leading, 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 3-3.

The match was to resume at 4 a.m. Pacific time before the women’s final today. Djokovic, who has beaten Murray seven times in a row, dominated for most of the first three sets, but Murray shifted the momentum by breaking Djokovic’s serve at 5-5 in the third with a flurry of phenomenal shots on the run, beginning with a forehand passing shot off a Djokovic lob.

Djokovic had not dropped a set in his first five matches, and Murray was up a break in the fourth set, too, before Djokovic returned the favor. The atmosphere and quality of play were exceptional, with extended rallies the rule, including one of 33 strokes.

Wawrinka’s and Tsonga’s latest duel was grueling for a different reason with early-afternoon temperatures in Paris well over 90 degrees. The 3-hour, 46-minute match took a heavy physical toll, and a mental one, too. After one long game in the second set, Tsonga mistakenly headed for his chair one game too early for the changeover.

But Wawrinka’s ability to dodge danger on his serve ultimately made the difference. The backhand and the service return have long been Tsonga’s weak points, and on Friday he converted only one of 17 break points.

“We can’t rewrite the story,” Tsonga said.

It was the second major disappointment Wawrinka has inflicted on Tsonga in France in the past six months. He also beat him convincingly on the opening day of the Davis Cup final in Lille in November as the Swiss went on to win the most prestigious team trophy for the first time.