Bring on Rafa Nadal

MELBOURNE. - Roger Federer held firm against a furious fightback from fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka, edging his former apprentice 7-5, 6-3, 1-6, 4-6, 6-3 in a Melbourne Park classic to reach the final of the Australian Open tennis tournament yesterday.

On the day the Williams sisters booked their place in the women’s final, 35-year-old Federer continued the march of the veterans, becoming the oldest man to reach a Grand Slam final in more than 40 years.

Federer reached his first Australian Open final in seven years and then made it as clear as he politely said that he would welcome the chance to renew his epic rivalry with Rafa Nadal as he chases his 18th Grand Slam title.

The 35-year-old Swiss came through an five-set battle with compatriot Wawrinka to set up a final against Spaniard Nadal or Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, who meet in today’s second semi-final.

“It’s real, I can really actually talk about a final, I’ve been dodging that bullet for the last few days,” Federer said.

“Rafa’s given me the most problems in the game . . . I’m probably Rafa’s number one fan, I think his game is just tremendous. He’s an incredible competitor.

“I’m happy that we’ve had some epic battles over the years and of course it would be unreal to play him here.”

While Federer’s preference seemed clear, he did not earn his reputation as one of the great gentlemen of sport without paying due respect to both of his potential opponents.

“(Dimitrov)’s got a very complete game. He can mix it up really well. He’s very confident and you never want to play confident players, but it’s him or Rafa,” said Federer, laughing. “It’s going to be tough either way.” Both Federer and Nadal missed the back end of last season because of injury, the Swiss after his first ever knee surgery and Nadal because of a wrist injury.