It took nearly five hours of gruelling tennis for Rafa Nadal to fend off Grigor Dimitrov and book a dream Australian Open final against Roger Federer but before Melbourne Park the Spaniard endured a season of heartache and doubt. So having edged Dimitrov 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-4 in a nerve-shredding marathon to reach his first grand slam final since the 2014 French Open, an exhausted Nadal allowed himself to reflect on a "tough" year. "I feel that this rivalry is talked about outside the tennis world, and that is good for our sport," Nadal said of the Federer match. The 30-year-old will bid for a 15th grand slam title, with 35-year-old Federer going for his 18th. Nadal has a 6-2 winning record against Federer in grand slam finals but the Spaniard dismissed it as irrelevant.

Source: India Today January 27, 2017 16:18 UTC