Rafael Nadal sweats his way to his first Australian Open final appearance after a marathon 5-set match against Fernando Verdasco. (Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images)
At the end of a marathon five sets, it was Nadal who joined Roger Federer to each have one hand on the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup.
Temperatures may have eased after a cool change from 44ºC (111ºF) to 24ºC (75ºF) by the start of the semifinal, but Rafael Nadal and his Spanish compatriot Fernando Verdasco perspired profusely in a grinding and sapping match at an open-roofed Rod Laver Arena.
In the first set, it was evident that Rafael had the edge on 14th-seed Verdasco. But 24-year-old Verdasco’s fighting spirit—in the best-ever tournament of his career—pushed the world’s No.1 in a power-packed five set match 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(2), 6-7(1), 6-4.
Without question, it was the finest, most intense and long rallied men’s match of the tournament so far.
Verdasco came of age to join the ranks of players like Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic as the group of players chasing Nadal and Federer.
There is no fiercer rivalry in the sporting world than the one that has developed since 2005 between the top two players in the world.
Adding to the flavor of the coming encounter, they have never met in a grand slam on a hard court before.
Having played 18 times with Nadal (11) taking the honors, this Sunday night will be their seventh grand slam final meeting—Nadal leads Federer with 4 wins to 2. The last time these two met was on grass at Wimbledon where Nadal won 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-7(8), 9-7.
Their pathway in the Australian Open is littered with easy victories.
Until Friday night’s match, Nadal had powered his way through the tournament without dropping a single set.
Similarly, no player had pushed Federer the way that American Andy Roddick had Thursday night.
Coming into this match, Nadal will have had one day’s rest after running a marathon, so exhaustion may play a role in his performance against a fresher Federer. The Swiss, on the other hand, may have felt a shiver down his spine while watching the relentless power of Nadal’s last match.
That all simply heightens the expectation of the Nadal-Federer final.
