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Federer Vs. Nadal In French Open Final

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By HOWARD FENDRICH

The Associated Press

Published: June 7, 2008

PARIS - As the points piled up and the light faded, it was tough to decide which scenario had seemed less likely at the outset of the French Open semifinals Friday:

That Rafael Nadal would be so dominant during a 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (3) victory against Novak Djokovic, a man who is, after all, ranked No. 3 and a Grand Slam champion?

Or that Roger Federer would run into so much trouble before winning 6-2, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 against Gael Monfils, a man who is, after all, ranked 59th and a major semifinalist for the first time?

Then again, by the end of the day, Roland Garros once more produced the likeliest of all championship matches: No. 1 Federer vs. No. 2 Nadal.

"Rafa again, across the net - it's the ultimate test on clay. It would be so much better to win the French Open by beating him," Federer said. "It should be entertaining to watch."

The showdown Sunday is their third consecutive French Open final, their fifth Grand Slam final overall, and plenty is on the line.

Nadal can become the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1978-81 to win the tournament four years in a row. Federer can add the lone major trophy missing from his collection, thereby making him the sixth man to complete a career Grand Slam and increasing his total haul to 13 majors, one shy of Pete Sampras' record.

Federer is 6-10 overall against Nadal, including 1-8 on clay and 0-3 at the French Open, where they also met in the 2005 semifinals.

"I will try everything," Federer said. "I hope I will finally win here."

Nadal hasn't lost at Roland Garros. Ever. He improved to 27-0 by beating the third-seeded Djokovic, who won the Australian Open in January and would have overtaken Nadal in the rankings by beating him.

But by the sixth game, Djokovic's cheeks were flush from exertion and he was gasping for air. Nadal make him look like a first-round foe who had come through qualifying.

"Almost perfect," was the way Nadal described his performance. "Best match at Roland Garros so far, no?"

Federer's semifinal was second, so he took advantage of the opportunity to watch.

"Rafa played fantastic for basically the entire time," said Federer, who helped his own cause by winning the point on 49 of 64 trips to the net against the unseeded Monfils.

Nadal does his finest work along the baseline, and the longer the point, the better, as far as he's concerned. Against Djokovic, he won 32 of the 48 points that lasted at least 10 strokes, according to a tally compiled by The AP.

As for Federer, he reached his 15th Grand Slam final, tied for fifth-most in history.

Monfils, an enthusiastic Frenchman backed Friday by about 15,000 of his closest friends in the stands, is unaccustomed to this sort of high-pressure match, having never before been beyond the fourth round at a major.

It didn't show early. After Monfils broke him to take the second set, he strutted to the sideline pounding his chest with a fist.

In the third set, Federer blew a set point and was broken while serving for the third set at 5-3. He broke right back, however.

In the fourth set, Monfils saved two match points while trailing 5-4. He got to 5-5, but Federer finished him off with two straight game wins.

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