It's Nadal vs Federer again

Source: Agencies  |   2008-6-7  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

BY Rafael Nadal's standards, his semifinal match at the French Open was close - he lost 12 games and nearly conceded a set.

The king of clay rose to the challenge yesterday at Roland Garros, beating No. 3-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (3).

"It was a very high quality match," said Nadal, who is still unbeaten at Roland Garros. "I am just very happy to be in the final again."

Nadal had lost only three games in each of his previous two matches. He's one win from becoming the first player since Bjorn Borg in 1981 to win four consecutive French Open titles.

Borg watched from the first row behind the baseline and rose with the rest of the crowd to applaud when Nadal completed the victory.

The Spaniard's opponent tomorrow will be top-ranked Roger Federer, who's bidding for the only grand slam title he has yet to win.

In a late match yesterday, the Swiss edged Gael Monfils of France 6-2, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 for his third straight final.

Ana Ivanovic and Dinara Safina will bid for their first grand slam title today in the women's final.

Nadal improved to 27-0 at Roland Garros and eliminated Djokovic from the tournament for the third consecutive year. The result prevented Djokovic from overtaking Nadal for the No. 2 ranking.

Nadal repeatedly lured Djokovic into long baseline rallies and won most of them, pushing the Serb from corner to corner with his muscular groundstrokes.

Djokovic served poorly for much of the match and struggled to hold, facing 14 break points while Nadal faced only one in the first two sets.

With Nadal up two breaks in the third set at 3-0, Djokovic began to hit his groundstrokes even harder, and the high-risk tactic worked for a while. The Serb twice broke back, the second time to reach 5-all, and had a set point two games later, which Nadal saved with a forehand winner.