He appears to be a stronger and more competitive player than he was for the majority of previous year, fixing his mental issues.
Advertisement
Federer left his opponent and the center court crowd stunned as he charged to a 5-0 lead Pat Rafter Arena before encountering stiffer resistance from his 22-year-old opponent as the match progressed at the Australian Open warmup. They have faced each other in the final of all four grand slams.
Also in the last four – where he will play Nadal – is the Ukrainian outsider Illya Marchenko.
The world-ranked number 94, who knocked defending champion David Ferrer out in the first round, won in straight sets 6-3, 7-6 (7/3).
“I feel very happy to make the final in the first week of the year, the start is very important for me”, Nadal, who will contest his 99th career final, said.
Roger Federer, still battling a flu bug, held off Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-4 and take his title defense into the semifinals at the Brisbane International in Australia.
Novak’s been the far superior player the last 18 months and he’ll want to keep it that way, while Nadal is slowly working his way back into form.
“Winning matches in three sets is very good news and very positive thing”, Nadal told reporters. His quarterfinal was a little messier, needing three sets to dispatch of Andrey Kuznetsov. The fact that I have played him many times over the last 7-8 years has actually helped me prepare well against him. For the first week of the season, the Spaniard has been sharp and hasn’t needed that much to get into his rhythm. “Body is not quite ready, so it’s good to get through it without any issues”.
He has certainly looked more energised and vigorous than Djokovic, although the latter hasn’t dropped a set despite a tougher draw.
Djokovic and Nadal are tied at 23 matches apiece in their career head-to-head. Then, in the second round, he defeated Spaniard Fernando Verdasco with the same scoreline, 6-2, 6-2.
“It was a very close match”, said Djokovic after the match.
Djokovic improved his record against Tomas Berdych to 22-2 by downing the Czech 6-3, 7-6 (3) in the semifinals.
“I guess it is a pretty important match”, Djokovic said with his trademark infectious smile in place. The pair could barely be separated over five hours and 53 minutes on the Rod Laver Arena – this remains the longest Grand Slam final in history – as both men showed their dogged resistance. He’s playing with big confidence. “He’s in the final, so that’s already proof that he’s been playing well”.
Advertisement
Serving for the set at 5-4, he was broken to love in a game which included the Argentinian putting a straight forward overhead smash into the net.
