{"id":9949,"date":"2017-01-27T13:46:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-27T13:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2017\/01\/27\/nadal-books-date-with-federer-for-australian-open-title\/"},"modified":"2017-01-27T13:46:00","modified_gmt":"2017-01-27T13:46:00","slug":"nadal-books-date-with-federer-for-australian-open-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/nadal-books-date-with-federer-for-australian-open-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Nadal Books Date With Federer For Australian Open Title"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Bill Chappell<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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Rafael Nadal throws his towel to a ball boy during his semifinal against Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov at the Australian Open. Kin Cheung\/AP<\/strong> hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Kin Cheung\/AP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Rafael Nadal has reached the final of the Australian Open, where he will face longtime rival Roger Federer in a matchup that answers the prayers of tennis fans eager to see a ninth Grand Slam final between the pair. Nadal outlasted Grigor Dimitrov in a nearly five-hour match Friday.<\/p>\n

“For me, it’s a privilege” to face Federer again, Nadal said after his semifinal.<\/p>\n

By reviving a rivalry that began in earnest when they slugged it out in the 2006 French Open, Nadal and Federer, now 30 and 35, respectively, provide a bookend to the women’s bracket, where Venus and Serena Williams will play in the Australian Open’s final for the first time since 2003<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The ninth-seeded Nadal needed a gritty win over No. 15 seed Dimitrov to reach the final, winning 6-3, 5-7, 7(7)-6(5), 6(4)-7(7), 6-4. Nadal had been poised to win in four sets \u2014 but Dimitrov used his mobility and a booming serve to prolong the match at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, and his creativity and lashing backhand gave Nadal fits.<\/p>\n

Nadal was on the losing end of two key challenges late in the match, as in the final sets, two of Dimitrov’s angled shots \u2014 one on either sideline \u2014 were shown to have caught a sliver of the line.<\/p>\n

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