Sir David Gray
30-01-2009, 04:31 PM
Did anyone else watch this earlier? It was an absolutely amazing match and both men deserve great credit for playing so well throughout.
Nadal eventually won to progress to Sunday's final, where he will meet Roger Federer. But that doesn't even begin to tell the story of what happened.
Verdasco took the opening set on a tie-break, before Nadal levelled it up by taking the second, 6-4. Nadal then looked to be home and dry as he won the third on another tie-break. Verdasco looked as if he was going out as he appeared to be suffering in his legs. However, he somehow managed to get a second wind from somewhere and took the match into a deciding 5th set as he hammered Nadal 7-2 in yet another tie-break.
The final set was going according to serve until Verdasco was serving at 4-5. On match point, he double faulted for Nadal to finally come through 6-7 6-4 7-6 6-7 6-4. The match lasted 5 hours 14 minutes and is the longest match in Australian Open history.
For Verdasco, his main feeling will no doubt be disappointment that he played so well but still missed out on his first ever appearance in a Grand Slam final. He hit an unbelievable 95 winners during the course of the match and won 192 points, to Nadal's 193 and should be proud that he ran such a great player, so close.
He can also take great satisfaction at beating guys like Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga along the way.
Nadal will be delighted with his victory and it really shows how strong he is mentally to have come through this match. However I can't helping thinking that the real winner out of this match is Roger Federer, who must have had a big grin on his face as he watched the match unfold.
He must now be the overwhelming favourite to lift his 14th Grand Slam trophy on Sunday.
Nadal eventually won to progress to Sunday's final, where he will meet Roger Federer. But that doesn't even begin to tell the story of what happened.
Verdasco took the opening set on a tie-break, before Nadal levelled it up by taking the second, 6-4. Nadal then looked to be home and dry as he won the third on another tie-break. Verdasco looked as if he was going out as he appeared to be suffering in his legs. However, he somehow managed to get a second wind from somewhere and took the match into a deciding 5th set as he hammered Nadal 7-2 in yet another tie-break.
The final set was going according to serve until Verdasco was serving at 4-5. On match point, he double faulted for Nadal to finally come through 6-7 6-4 7-6 6-7 6-4. The match lasted 5 hours 14 minutes and is the longest match in Australian Open history.
For Verdasco, his main feeling will no doubt be disappointment that he played so well but still missed out on his first ever appearance in a Grand Slam final. He hit an unbelievable 95 winners during the course of the match and won 192 points, to Nadal's 193 and should be proud that he ran such a great player, so close.
He can also take great satisfaction at beating guys like Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga along the way.
Nadal will be delighted with his victory and it really shows how strong he is mentally to have come through this match. However I can't helping thinking that the real winner out of this match is Roger Federer, who must have had a big grin on his face as he watched the match unfold.
He must now be the overwhelming favourite to lift his 14th Grand Slam trophy on Sunday.