MELBOURNE // After a battle lasting 5hrs 14mins Rafael Nadal fell to the ground in celebration of reaching the men's singles final of the Australian Open. The longest match in the history of the tournament ended with Nadal beating fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4. The only disappointment was that after the saving two match points, the 14th-seeded Verdasco's last action of the match was to serve a double fault to hand victory to his Davis Cup teammate. "It was very tough to play aggressive against a player like Fernando," Nadal said. "He played unbelievable. Only when you're playing very well can you have these wins." There were no arguments, no gamesmanship, just great shots, with the momentum shifting on a handful of key points. The previous longest match at Melbourne Park was in 1991, when Boris Becker needed 5hrs 11mins to beat Italian Omar Camporese, with the fifth set finishing 14-12. Nadal earned the right to try to keep No 2 seed Roger Federer from equalling Pete Sampras's record of 14 grand slams tomorrow. "Roger has a bit of an advantage over me," Nadal said. "He's resting right now. But I want to try my best. It's very important for me to be in this final. "Whatever happens I've started the season my best ever." Earlier in the day, Serena and Venus Williams joined forces for their third Australian doubles title and eighth grand slam title. They beat Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia and Japan's Ai Sugiyama 6-3, 6-3, forcing them to dodge a number of stinging shots at the net, particularly from Venus. "She's covering the whole net," Serena said. "At one point, I literally stood back and she took care of everything." It was a good warm-up for Serena who will face Russia's Dinara Safina in the women's final. * With agencies
Nadal overcomes brave Verdasco in marathon match
Top seed Rafael Nadal beats his fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in the longest match in the history of the Australian Open.
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