RAFA NADAL VS. ROGER FEDERER IN AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2017 FINAL AFTER NADAL OUTLASTS DIMITROV IN A THRILLER

Written by: Staff on 27th January 2017

RAFA NADAL VS. ROGER FEDERER IN AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2017 FINAL AFTER NADAL OUTLASTS DIMITROV IN A THRILLER

epa05754461 Rafael Nadal (R) of Spain at the net with Grigor Dimitrov (L) of Bulgaria whom he defeated in their Men's Singles semifinal match at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 28 January 2017. EPA/TRACEY NEARMY AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

By Ricky Dimon

Eight years later, it will be–again–Rafael Nadal vs. Roger Federer in the Australian Open title match.

Nadal and Federer, who last met in the final Down Under in 2009, survived respective five-set semifinal showdowns to reach Sunday’s blockbuster title tilt. Little more than 24 hours after Federer held off fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka in five, Nadal withstood an amazing performance by Grigor Dimitrov to triumph 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-4 in four hours and 56 minutes on Friday night–or more like Saturday morning.

A dramatic fifth set ultimately stole the show, but not before a roller-coaster first four sets failed to separate the two contestants. It was Nadal who started strong, breaking for a 3-1 advantage in the opener after fighting off two break points in the first game.

Following a high-quality opening set that featured just a single break, a far less straightforward–and much sloppier–second set saw Dimitrov right the ship. Spraying forehand errors in all directions, Nadal dropped serve three times. He broke back twice, but his third service donation came at 5-6 when there was no opportunity to recover.

Nadal and Dimitrov traded tiebreakers in the third and fourth, sending the contest toward the four-hour mark while Federer without question watched contentedly in the friendly confines of his hotel room. The world No. 9 never led by more than two points in the third-set ‘breaker, but he also never trailed. Dimitrov raced to a 5-2 lead in the fourth-set ‘breaker and had no trouble finishing it off.

Break points–all of the nail-biting variety, for sure–were the story of the decisive fifth. Dimitrov saved three to hold for 1-0 before Nadal fended off one en route to 1-1, with those two games requiring more than 20 minutes in total. Two more break-point games (Dimitrov fought off one at 2-2, Nadal survived two at 3-4) led to a 4-4 deadlock. The decisive moment finally came at 4-4, 30-40, when Nadal fired a down-the-line backhand winner to break the underdog Bulgarian.

In appropriate fashion, Dimitrov made his opponent work in order to trudge across the finish line. Nadal failed to capitalize on his first two match points at 40-30 and ad-in but converted his third chance when Dimitrov sent a backhand just over the baseline.

Grigor Dimitrov (top) of Bulgaria in action during his Men’s Singles semifinal match against Rafael Nadal of Spain (bottom) at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 27 January 2017. EPA/JULIAN SMITH

“I think Grigor played great,” the Spaniard commented. “I played great. So (it) was a great quality of tennis tonight. (It) is amazing to be through to a final of Grand Slam again here in Australia at the [start] of the year. Means a lot to me; very happy to be part of this match. I think both of us deserve to be in that final. Finally (it) was me.”

“I’m sure I’m going to look back at that match and see what I could have done better,” Dimitrov explained. “But at least one thing I can say is that I left it all out on the court. I’m proud of that.

“For sure Rafa deserves pretty much all the credit right now since he’s such a fighter–such a competitor. At the same time it was an honor for me to play a match like that against him. It also shows me that I’m in a good way, I’m on the right path.”