Epic semi puts Nadal in final
Rafael Nadal beats Fernando Verdasco in Australian Open epic
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Friday, 30, Jan 2009 10:38
World number one Rafael Nadal has set up a mouth-watering clash with number two Roger Federer after an amazing Australian Open semi-final victory.
Nadal was pushed all the way by a heroic performance from fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco before the 14th seed succumbed to a five-set defeat in the longest men's singles match in history at the Melbourne grand slam.
Verdasco won the first set before falling 2-1 behind as Nadal began to gain a foothold after a slow start.
But a brave performance from the underdog ensured the match went the distance and after five hours and 14 minutes at the Rod Laver Arena, Nadal eventually broke his compatriot's serve to seal a 6-7 6-4 7-6 6-7 6-4 win.
The opening set was characterised by cagey play from both men as neither wanted to hand the initiative to his opponent.
With no breaks of serve and very few opportunities for either player the set predictably went to a tiebreak, although Verdasco's superior shotmaking in the decider was something of a surprise as he claimed a lead.
Nadal's recovery was slow to get going in the second as he was pegged back by a fired-up Verdasco.
But one break was enough as the world number one converted his advantage to level things up.
Despite losing out in the second set to some unforced errors, Verdasco continued to go for his shots in a brave performance that saw him hit some blinding winners.
Things looked ominous as the world number 15 - who had knocked out Britain's Andy Murray in five sets in the fourth round – began to visibly tire and he gave up an early break to Nadal.
Not to be outdone, though, Verdasco immediately broke back - and did the same again later in the set after giving up a second break.
Nadal is not world number one for nothing though and he refused to be downhearted by his inability to convert his breaks into set-winning chances.
And after claiming the topsy-turvy third via another tiebreak, he looked set to break Verdasco's will at the same time.
But the Spaniard is made of sterner stuff - as demonstrated by his heroics in disposing of Murray and then last year's runner-up and conqueror of Nadal, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in the last round.
And he stayed toe-to-toe with his opponent when his head could have dropped - playing the big points to perfection to force a third tiebreak in the fourth set.
Verdasco then took control – quickly going 6-0 up to settle any nerves and converting his second set point for a 7-1 win in the decider to force a final-set shootout.
Both players returned to their earlier cagey approaches in the fifth, but it did not last long as a series of winners followed from both men.
But after an epic encounter entered its sixth hour, there was to be no fairytale ending.
At 4-5 on Verdasco's serve, the outsider gave up three cheap points to Nadal to hand him three match points, although he looked to be clawing his way back into the contest after playing back-to-back serve-and-volleys to get to 30-40.
Fatigue had clearly taken its toll though and the Spaniard served his second double fault of the game to gift the win to a relieved Nadal at just after 01:00, local time.
The final takes place on Sunday, with Federer looking to equal Pete Sampras' record of 14 career grand slams.