Nadal reaches Australian Open final
Published:Friday | January 30, 2009 | 6:10 PM
Top-ranked Rafael Nadal outlasted fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 today to reach the Australian Open final after the longest match in the tournament’s history.
The left-handed Davis Cup teammates went at each other for five hours and 14 minutes.
After all that, having saved two match points, 14th-seeded Verdasco served a double-fault to give Nadal the victory.
Nadal earned the right to try to keep second-ranked Roger Federer from tying Pete Sampras’ record of 14 major titles on Sunday.
Federer advanced to his 18th Grand Slam final with a straight sets win over Andy Roddick yesterday.
American Serena Williams and third-seeded Dinara Safina of Russia will contest the women’s final tomorrow.
Earlier in the day, the Williams sister Serena and Venus teamed for their third doubles title at the Australian Open and eighth Grand Slam title.
They beat Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia and Japan’s Ai Sugiyama 6-3, 6-3.