Predictable,yet enthralling

Semifinal see-saw battle ends on expected lines as Nadal dominates Federer

In the 11th game of the third set,everybody present at the Rod Laver Arena knew what was going to unfold. Serving from the advantage court side,Rafael Nadal was going to boom the ball down the T,and Roger Federer was not going to reach it. Nadal,all twisted brows,pouting lips and angled racquet,knew it. Federer,lining his body up to to dash for a forehand,knew it. The crowds knew it,as did Uncle Toni and Mirka,placed high up on the respective players boxes.

Having already served wide twice to Federers backhand in this five-all game,Nadal thundered his racquet down the middle,before the ball kissed the line dividing the service boxes. Federer,who had backed up enough to reach it,clipped the return with his frame,and sent yet another ball flying into the voracious Melbourne crowds. Thirty all and uncle Toni jumped to his feet with a fist pump.

The point went on to help Nadal take a 6-5 lead in the third set,and put him on the verge of a two sets to one lead. But a lot more importantly in the context of this Australian Open semi-final and their intense rivalry it proved that although the strategies between two legends playing for the 27th time in their careers can get a tad predictable,Nadal continues to control the man he calls the greatest in the history of tennis by his mental strings.

Toying with Federer

Just like a puppeteer in full pomp,the Spaniard toyed with the emotions of the Swiss and his overwhelmingly loud and large contingent of fans 8211; en route to the 6-7,6-2,7-6,6-4 win that booked a place in his second Australian Open final. The above incident repeated itself in various outlines,avatars and scenarios,especially in the third set tie-break,when Federer came back fuming from a 6-1 deficit to make it 6-5. But Nadal stuck to his plan of playing to his strengths break down the Federer backhand with an array of spitting top-spinners,and then go to work on his forehand. The result? Ball hits frame,ball hits net,Nadal hits Federer 7-6 in the pivotal third.

Federer had his clinch points right through this 3 hour,42 minute rollercoaster. But when push came to clinch,it was Nadal pushing the winners while Federer was shoved into committing the errors. In the end,he had more unforced errors than winners,trailing the ethereal part of his game 46 to 63. As for the head-to-head,Nadal now has twice the number of Federers nine wins. The greatest rivalry of the modern game may have just bygone the glory days of the previous decade.

Epic battle

No Federer-Nadal match is ever observed in isolation,especially not in Grand Slams. As Federer mesmerised his way to a 3-0 lead in the first set to kickstart their first semi-final showdown since 2005,the chatter around the arena was whether it would be an epic like the one played out on the same court three years ago,or if Federer the favourite,considering his incredible run would run away with it like at the ATP World Tour finals last year.

If anything,the game probably followed a similar pattern to their first final at Roland Garros in 2006,with Federer taking the first set in a blitz,before allowing Nadal to weave his web with slice crushers and self destructing with awful approach shots to the net.

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The first real moments that lived up to the Rafa-Roger hype arrived in the fifth game of the first set,with Nadal serving 1-4 down. The 16-time champion found the legs to hunt down a crisp down the line forehand curler,and the hands to shoot it past Nadals outstretched backhand. But unlike most Rafa-Roger epics,the long rallies almost always ended in an error.

Federer had his chances early in the third,breaking Nadal on his fourth break point of the game to take a 4-3 lead. But with double faults followed by punishably weak groundstrokes,Nadal broke right back. The rest,as they say,was predictably enthralling. Nadal won,Federer lost,the crowds went ballistic and the rivalry lost some of its steam.