Nadal Cruises Past Federer, Reaches His 19th Majors Final in Melbourne.

Top seed Rafael Nadal dominated his semi-final clash against old rival Roger Federer to book his third appearance in the Australian Open final on Friday.

The Spaniard played his best tennis so far in the tournament on his way to claiming a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 6-3 win, extending his winning run over the Swiss in majors to six straight matches. The victory also increased his career head-to-head wins over Federer to 23-10.

The 27-year-old Marjocan will look to continue his dominance over Federer’s compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka in Sunday’s final at the Rod Laver Arena and also add to his 13 Grand Slam title.

Rafael Nadal Beats Federer in Australian Open Semis.
Rafael Nadal Beats Federer in Australian Open Semis.

The Swiss Sixth seed, who also lost in the 2012 semi-final to Nadal, led the winner count in the opening set, coming up with ten winners to Nadal’s six but his 24 unforced error counts affected his momentum, nine more than Nadal’s. Federer made away with two break points in the seventh game and another in the ninth when the Spaniard sent a forehand long.

Several errors from the four-time Australian Open champion handed Nadal victory in the first set tie break.

Nadal turned up the intensity of his game when he returned from a medical time out, after the first game of the second set. He outclassed Federer in the two remaining sets of the game, closing out the encounter in two hours and 24 minutes.