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Rafael Nadal has prevailed in an epic five-set affair at the Australian Open semi-finals to book a spot against Roger Federer in the final on Sunday evening.
Two sets went to tie-breakers and nearly a third as the players spent almost five hours on court producing some of, if not the best tennis of the tournament so far.
Nadal might have come out of the gates firing, taking the first set in 35 minutes but Grigor Dimitrov proved to be anything but a pushover from there with the final score reading 6-3, 5-7, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4.
It did look at one stage as if Nadal might have run away with the match, especially when break-points began flying during a topsy-turvy second and third set, but it was anything but.
After three breaks of serve during the second set, Dimitrov would eventually take the pivotal one after putting himself in a position where it was worst case tie-breaker.
He attacked the Nadal serve feverishly in the 12th game though and came away with the set to tie the match at one a piece after more than an hour was invested.
Nadal didn’t close out the set well at all, and he seemed to be down on power a fraction, however after a lull at the start of the third set the action intensified on court and never dropped again with some staggering rallies and incredible shots.
Dimitrov would hit 70 winners throughout the match, which well eclipsed the level Nadal displayed, but he used his human brick wall capabilities, returning absolutely everything to stay in the match.
The longer the match went, the more Dimitrov began to adopt those strategies and the defence made for some fantastic tennis.
The third set would go the way of a tie-breaker, with Nadal eventually taking it through some pretty ordinary unforced errors from Dimitrov.
Full credit to the Bulgarian though, he didn’t for a moment put his head down after dropping behind by a set, instead brutalising the ball in an attempt to get back on level pegging, which he did as Nadal made the errors in a second straight tie-breaker.
Dimitrov also relied on big serving at times to get him out of trouble, and that was exactly the case during the first game of the fifth set as he was forced through a number of deuces and a nearly ten-minute service game.
From there, despite points still being long there were a series of easy service games before Nadal was on the ropes, but Dimitrov couldn’t convert.
The ninth game of the fifth set would end up being the critical one, as Nadal finally found the service break, using a mix of winners and errors from his opponent to take it.
Nothing came easy for Nadal though, and it took him three match points to get the job done in the tenth game of the fifth set, fittingly finished off with another long rally.
An absolutely incredible game of tennis and one that will be remembered for many years to come.
Roger Federer may be the real winner though, with an extra day of recovery and Nadal spending almost five hours on court.
For now though, it’s time for Nadal to put his feet up and celebrate an incredible success.
Match Statistics
Match Duration: 4 hours and 56 minutes
Aces: Nadal (8), Dimitrov (20)
Double faults: Nadal (3), Dimitrov (5)
First serves in: Nadal (135/184), Dimitrov (124/181)
Points won on first serve: Nadal (93/135), Dimitrov (87/124)
Points won on second serve: Nadal (27/49), Dimitrov (28/57)
Net points won: Nadal (25/29), Dimitrov (36/48)
Break points won: Nadal (5/13), Dimitrov (4/16)
Receiving points won: Nadal (66/181), Dimitrov (64/184)
Winners: Nadal (45), Dimitrov (79)
Unforced errors: Nadal (43), Dimitrov (70)
Rafael Nadal 6 5 7 6 6
Grigor Dimitrov 3 7 6 7 4