26 Jan 2014

Nadal humbles Federer in straight sets

4:29 pm on 26 January 2014

A clinical Rafa Nadal crushed his great rival Roger Federer 7-6 6-3 6-3 to reach his third Australian Open tennis final, where he'll meet Stanislas Wawrinka.

The 2009 champion notched his sixth straight win in grand slams over the Swiss, frustrating his opponent with stifling consistency, and a masterclass of clean hitting.

Dominating Federer in the first set tiebreak, the Spaniard broke twice to charge through the second, and captured the decisive break in the third at 3-3 when his opponent blasted into the net-cord and the deflection sailed long.

Nadal raised two match-points as Federer served to stay in the match and sealed it on the second when the shell-shocked Swiss shanked a forehand long.

Nadal extended his head-to-head dominance over Federer to 23-10.

The top seed, who missed last year's tournament through illness, believes it was his best match of the tournament.