Melbourne: Rafael Nadal set up an Australian Open final against his great rival Roger Federer after edging Grigor Dimitrov in a classic five-set semi-final which stretched for nearly five hours on Friday.
Nadal pulled off one of his greatest victories in denying Bulgaria’s Dimitrov, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (4/7), 6-4 in four hours and 56 minutes in front of a rocking Rod Laver Arena crowd.
Nadal showed his incredible fighting qualities to claw back from 0-30 down in the ninth game of the final set to break Dimitrov’s serve with two tremendous chases to put away the winning volley to lead 5-4.
Dimitrov bravely saved two match points as Nadal served out for the match before the Spaniard clinched victory, sinking to his knees in relief and jubilation.
It’s a very special thing, I think for both of us to be in the final of a major again and have another chance to compete with each other again after a couple of years having some problems,” he said. “I think both of us never thought we were going to be here again in the final of the Australian Open.”
Nadal, who downed Federer in the 2009 final, won through to his fourth Australian Open final and his 21st Grand Slam final. He leads Federer 6-2 in their major finals.
Sania, Dodig enter finals
Meanwhile, Sania Mirza and her Croatian partner Ivan Dodig entered the finals of the mixed doubles of the Australian Open here. The second-seeded Indo-Croatian pair won 6-4, 2-6, 10-5 in the semi-finals beating local favourites Samantha Stosur and Sam Groth that lasted one hour and 18 minutes.
Sania is the lone Indian surviving in the first Grand Slam of the season with Rohan Bopanna, Paes, Purav Raja, Divij Sharan and juniors Zeel Desai and Siddhant Banthia all crashing out early. (Agencies)
