Melbourne: Rafa Nadal had to be at his battling best to outlast Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(7-5), 6-7(4-7), 6-4 at the Australian Open here Friday and set up a mouth-watering ninth Grand Slam final meeting with his great rival Roger Federer. As one commentator put it, “Nadal defeated Baby Fed to take on the Big Fed.” Dimitrov is called ‘Baby Fed’ on the circuit because of the way he hits the one-handed backhand.
The Spaniard looked every inch a 14-time Grand Slam champion as he slugged it out with his 25-year-old opponent over nearly five hours on Rod Laver Arena to reach his first Major final since the 2014 French Open and 21st overall.
“Grigor was playing unbelievable, it was a great match,” the 30-year-old said in a courtside interview with former two-time champion Jim Courier. “I think both of us deserve to be in that final, it was a great fight. Finally it was me, I feel lucky and I am very happy for that.”
With 35-year-old Serena Williams facing her 36-year-old sister Venus in Saturday’s women’s final and a rested Federer, 35, waiting for Nadal, Sunday, it is the first time in the open era that all four Grand Slam finalists have been over 30.
Dimitrov, riding high on a 10-match winning streak and seeking his first Grand Slam final, did his best to keep the twenty-something standard flying into the weekend. There were no signs of the mental frailties for ‘Baby Fed’ as he went blow-for-blow with the left-hander.
“It’s never easy to lose a match like that,” said Dimitrov, who hit 79 winners. “But it also shows me that I’m on the right path. At least one thing I can say is I left it all out there on court.”
Ninth seed Nadal was forced to save two breakpoints in the opening game alone, setting the tone for a frenetic evening. But he was soon in his elements and set up a break with a booming backhand pass.
The Bulgarian refused to buckle, though, and pounced to break to love for a 3-1 lead in the second set, Nadal perhaps distracted by a time violation warning. From there, the set descended into chaos with both players broken twice and Nadal forced to save four set points before Dimitrov evened up the contest on the fifth.
The breakpoints continued to come thick and fast in the third set, Nadal converting his third and Dimitrov his fourth to keep the set on serve.
After a short break while a spectator received medical attention, Nadal held for 6-6 and the set went into a tie-breaker which Nadal won.
There were chances for both men in the fifth but, with midnight long past, Nadal came to the net to punch a backhand into the back court, break for 5-4 and earn the right to serve for the match. But even then Dimitrov save three match points before Nadal closed it out on the fourth.
Reuters
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