Australian Open—Melbourne, Australia
No. 9 seed Rafa Nadal needed four hours and 56 minutes to dispatch No. 15 seed Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-4 at the Australian Open in Melbourne, Australia on Friday. Overcoming 20 aces, Nadal hit 45 winners to 43 unforced errors and broke the serve of his inform opponent on five occasions. Improving to 8-1 against Dimitrov in lifetime meetings, Nadal will next face his greatest foe Roger Federer in Sunday’s final. Leading his head-to-head against Federer at 23-11, Nadal also owns a 3-0 lead against the Swiss star in Melbourne, which includes a victory during the 2009 final in five sets.
Federer, who will be aiming for his 18th Grand Slam title, needed five sets on Thursday to defeat reigning US Open champion Stan Wawrinka in five sets.
