It will be the 19th career meeting between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer when the top two players in the world square off in a dream final on Sunday night at the Australian Open.

Nadal is dominating the head-to-head series 12-6, but eight of those wins have come on clay, Nadal’s favorite surface and Federer’s least preferable. The most recent meeting, of course, came in the memorable 2008 Wimbledon final, where Nadal outlasted then-No. 1 Federer 9-7 in the fifth set.

The hard courts of Melbourne will be the most neutral surface yet for what will be Federer and Nadal’s seventh meeting in a Grand Slam final. Federer beat Nadal in two Wimbledon finals prior to last season’s defeat, while Nadal has conquered Federer for three of his four French Open titles.

Now that Nadal has overcome Federer on the Swiss’ favorite surface (grass), if he can get the best of Federer on hard courts as well, he will be the clear-cut dominant player in men’s tennis. But Federer is starting to look like the Federer of old. An enormous struggle with Tomas Berdych in the fourth round seemed to wake Federer up from a relatively lackluster first week of the tournament. In the quarterfinals Federer destroyed Juan Martin Del Potro 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 and in the semis he cruised past Andy Roddick 6-2, 7-5, 7-5.

His win over Roddick came on Thursday, so Federer has had one more extra day of rest than Nadal. During that extra day, he got to kick back and relax while his adversary contested the longest match in the history of the Australian Open: a grueling 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(2), 6-7(1) win over fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco. It was Nadal’s first real test of the fortnight. Nadal reached that spot in the tournament by taking out Christophe Rochus, Roko Karanusic, Tommy Haas, Fernando Gonzalez, and Gilles Simon all in straight sets.

But now Nadal—after rolling along through five matches—most certainly has to be fatigued after the five hour and fourteen minute slugfest against Verdasco.

Nadal himself admits that he is unsure how his body will hold up physically for Sunday night’s blockbuster title match. “Little bit unlucky,” Nadal said when asked how exciting it was to finally play Federer in hard-court major final. “Don’t know how I gonna be for the final. I gonna try my best for sure for recover my body and my physical performance. But, you know, after one match like this, the next days you feel much heavier.”

Verdasco agrees. “Is also a pity that…he played that long match for the final, when Roger played one day before and a much shorter match,” he said. “I want him to be 100% to play that final and to try to win. He’s a big friend. I wish him the best of luck in the final. I hope that he will win.”

But Nadal is not making any excuses about only getting one day of rest, whereas Federer gets two. “The US Open was for both players the semifinal the same day,” he noted. “Here is the only tournament is not like this. But, you know, you still have one day off. So that’s the sport.”

The Spaniard even pointed out that he would have had the advantage last year, but both he and Federer lost in the semifinals. “But (it) is like this. Last year I played on Thursday. I lost. I didn’t play the final. But, anyway, I play on Thursday, and Roger play on Friday.”

So Nadal says the playing field is fair, and if so, with a fair field and neutral surface, this should make for one of the most (if not THE most) intriguing and highly-anticipated match in tennis history.

Why? Consider: the 2009 Australian Open title is far from the only thing only the line. You know, there’s that thing called the all-time Grand Slam record for most men’s singles titles. Well, as every knows, Pete Sampras owns 14 majors and Federer stands just one behind. A win would not only give Federer a tie, but it would set him up well to take the record outright at Wimbledon this summer (assuming Nadal wins the French again).

Should Federer lose, there is a remote chance he might never pass Sampras. Nadal would solidify himself as the dominant man on all three surfaces, and with Andy Murray (among others) on a rapid rise, Federer’s chances at Grand Slams—while still great—are getting slimmer and slimmer as opposed to better and better.

For Nadal, at stake is his sixth Grand Slam. We can start putting him in the Greatest Of All Time discussion if he prevails on Sunday. In addition to owning six majors, he will have won three of the four slams. All that’s left would be the U.S. Open, meaning he would be just one away from the career Grand Slam, most recently accomplished by Andre Agassi at the 1999 French Open. Sampras never did it (failed to win the French Open) and Federer still hasn’t done it (also has never won the French). This is clearly up for debate, but I’d say the chances are Federer will retire having never captured the title at Roland Garros.

If Nadal can win on Sunday and somehow win the U.S. Open (which is a decent probability, considering Nadal will probably still be going strong when Federer is over the hill once and for all), he will retire—whenever he does—with the career Grand Slam. That gives him a leg up on Federer, and so does his Olympic gold in men’s singles, which he won this summer.

While all of that is speculation, this isn’t: it does not get any bigger than Sunday’s Federer-Nadal 2009 Australian Open final.

Serena Williams has an air of joie de vie about her. Some fans interpret that as brash cockiness, but those fans do not understand Serena Williams. In the finals of the Australian Open, Serena laid claim to the world’s number one ranking and displayed her superlative tennis skills to the packed house as well as to huge television audiences around the world. The humiliation of the Russian finalist and number three seed, Dinara Safina, was a credit to Serena’s immense talent and Safina’s inability to perform on center stage.

Safina, who survived two match points against France’s Alize Cornet earlier in the tournament and who had been dominant through most of her matches, could no nothing right against the stronger, quicker and more experienced 27 year old American. The hard-working Russian was pressured from the beginning and did not manage to hold serve until the fourth game of the second set. The crowd was uneasy with Serena dominance and tried to lift Dinara’s play with vocal support. Safina’s frustration showed in every aspect of her demeanor as unforced errors, double faults and failed strategy became more and more evident with every toss of the racquet.

The 6-0, 6-3, match was over in 58 minutes. The fans, who were hopeful of another Nadal-Verdasco type encounter, were left wondering how good Serena Williams really was. Professional women’s tennis is on the mend. Players are improving but few posses the natural talents that come so easily to Serena.

Venus Williams combined with Serena to win the doubles yesterday and today served as her sister’s warm-up partner. It is safe to say that the warm-up was probably more challenging than the finals. In a post match interview, Dinara described herself “as a ball girl on the court with Serena.” Despite her sub-par performance, Safina will move into the number two ranking behind Serena. Such is the state of Women’s Tennis today.

Serena’s 10th Grand Slam Championship and fourth Australian Open title put her in some very exclusive company. Her win moved her ahead of Monica Seles on the Grand Slam total title scoreboard. She now sits alone in 7th place.

Williams who only committed seven unforced errors won 95% of her first serves while Dinara could only win 52% of her first serves. Safina also double faulted five times compared to nine for Serena. From the outset, Serena appeared to take an aggressive posture against Safina who had never reached a Grand Slam finals before. The 6’0” has worked herself into the best shape of her career, but she was slower afoot than Serena and was forced into a defensive posture from the beginning of the match.

Safina managed to break Williams in the first game of the second set. The audience rallied behind the underdog, but Williams came out swinging and broke back immediately before holding in game three. Safina held to get to 1-3. It was clear that she did not have the firepower to move the relentless Serena around the court. Serena’s ability to stay focused spoke loudly of her big match experience.

Recently, there have been retirement rumors for Serena. Based upon the 2009 Australian Open, she would be retiring as the dominant force in Women’s Tennis. At this moment, Women’s Tennis needs Serena Williams more than Serena needs Women’s Tennis. Hail to the Queen!

In one the greatest matches ever played on any venue, Rafael Nadal took everything his Spanish compatriot could throw at him and held off the hard-charging Fernando Verdasco in a semi-final matchup for the ages. This match will long be remembered for the extremely high quality of play and for the stream of remarkable retrieves, ground strokes and unparalleled athleticism that fans rarely get to enjoy.

The longest match in Australian Open history had something for everyone. The shot-making was so phenomenal that even the players seemed in begrudging awe of each other. Even as compatriots, it became clear that there was no love lost between these two superstars.

As the number one seed, fans are used to such performances from the highly competitive Nadal. What the fans got from Fernando Verdasco could not have been predicted. With a sketchy record in previous big matches, Verdasco actually carried the play in this semifinal. He refused to surrender in big moments. Every time Nadal seemed to grab the momentum, Fernando made a miraculous play or stunned Nadal with a sharp, un-returnable service.

With wins over fourth seeded Murray and fifth seeded Tsonga, no player had a more challenging draw than the fourteenth seeded Verdasco. This Australian Open was his chance to shine. Instead of wilting, as in the past, he seized the moment and impressively dismantled the favorites one at a time. Spectators will be amazed if 2009 is not a breakout year for the handsome Spaniard. Many experts were impressed by Verdasco’s off-season training. His new dedication and training have definitely elevated the left-hander to new found heights.

In the end, it was Nadal’s defensive abilities that turned the match. Displaying Tiger Woodsian determination, the 22 year old refused to lose. Verdasco provided every opportunity for a meltdown, but there was no chink in the armor this day.

After losing the first set 6-7, Nadal broke late in the second set to win 6-4, then cruised through a third set tiebreaker to win 7-6. Critiques awaited a famed Verdasco fade. Instead, Fernando raised his play. There were no service breaks in the fourth set. In the tiebreaker, Verdasco got out of the gate fast and cruised to a 6-0 lead. After losing one point, he served a winner and took the set 7-6.

The fifth set was filled with high stakes drama. There were very few miscues although Nadal began to carry more of the play. Rafael employed higher spin to negate Verdasco’s 100 mph forehand. Nadal seemed to get to every ball. While not as artistic as a Federer win, it was a gutsy win.

At 5-6 and Verdasco needing to hold serve in the memorable fifth set, Nadal blistered two returns and Verdasco committed an unforced error to go down 0-40. Verdasco hunkered down to win two points with crushing volleys. Serving at 30-40 and to preserve the match, Verdasco double faulted. The match ended so abruptly that the stunned audience fell silent to contemplate what they had just witnessed.

While Nadal hit 52 outright winners, his opponent hit 95 outright winning shots. This is the highest number of outright winners ever surrendered by the world’s top ranked player. At the conclusion of the match, the two players embraced briefly in an Apollo Creed – Rocky Balboa moment. The two Spaniards had definitely seen enough of each other by the end of this spectacular match.

Nadal will now have to lick his wounds and prepare for another evening match against the lurking number two seed, Roger Federer. While that paring is highly anticipated, it could not produce better tennis than was played in this semi-final. Congratulations to both players. Thank you!

The 9th seeded team of Daniela Hantuchova and Ai Sugiyama rode the improved net play of Sugiyama and the always-impressive Hantuchova groundstrokes to efficiently topple unseeded Nathalie Dechy and Mara Santangelo in a semi final doubles match at Melbourne on Thursday. The impressive performance boosted the team into the finals where they will meet Venus and Serena Williams, who seeks to combine her 2009 doubles trophy with a 2009 singles championship. The doubles finals should be an exciting match pitting f Hantuchova and Sugiyama’s finesse against the Williams power game.

In the semis, Hantuchova and Sugiyama showed their usual camaraderie but took their teamwork to a new level. Sugiyama turned in a superlative volley and mid-volley game. Her low, close to the net strokes shortened the court and lured the opponents into uncomfortable mid-court positions. Meanwhile, Daniela patrolled the baseline like a hungry tigress. Her penetrating cross court forehands continuously drove Santangelo and Dechy deep behind the baseline.

Dechy and Santangelo tried a variety of strategies to offset the smooth play of their opposition. They staggered their alignments, juggled their positioning and mixed the pace of their strokes as well as any team could. Whatever they tried, Sugiyama and Hantuchova had the answers. Still riding the momentum from their thrilling win over the top seeded team of Huber and Raymond, Hantuchova and Sugiyama look poised to take on the power game of the Williams sisters.

Success at women’s doubles is nothing new to the American sister team. The Williams’s already possess three Grand Slam Doubles Titles. Even though seeded 10th, many experts and bookmakers liked the Williams entry from the beginning. Although Serena is still competing for the Singles Championship, she appears excited about her chances in the doubles. After an unexpected early departure from the singles by Venus, she has been able to concentrate on the doubles throne.

The sisters dominated Australia’s Casey Dellacqua and Italy’s Francesca Schiavone from the start in the 6-0, 6-2 semis. Most spectators left wondering who could challenge the two American sluggers.

The huge difference in serving velocity spelled doom for the underdogs right from the beginning. The Williams sisters were never threatened in the one hour contest. Serena, who had completed her singles romp, had a special day at Melbourne. If the sisters play with the same intensity in the finals, Hantuchova and Sugiyama may hard-pressed to survive and may well be left wondering what train just left the station..

In the first of two Australian Open women’s semifinals, the tennis world received yet another illustration of the difference between a great champion and a talented but disappointing pretender to the throne. Serena Williams possesses abundant talent, but the decorated performer defeated Elena Dementieva on Thursday in Rod Laver Arena because she was stronger between the ears. The 6-3, 6-4 win not only propelled the younger Williams sister into another Grand Slam final; it also reminded followers of the WTA Tour why the highly-skilled Dementieva has never claimed a major title.

One could say that Serena’s 10 aces were a big factor in this match. An observer could also tout Serena’s substantial advantage in terms of first-serve points won (78 percent to Dementieva’s 52 percent). Tennis pundits could also point to Serena’s 27 winners, compared to the more timid Dementieva’s total of 18. Those three stats, to a certain extent, influenced the progression of this slugfest.

Yet, as meaningful as numbers can be, they so often fail to tell the real story, especially in a main-event showdown when pressure creates the central narrative and exposes two competitors for what they really are.

Simply stated, Serena was revealed as the dominant force in her sport, while Dementieva was left to bear the humiliation of another weak-minded performance in the latter stages of a slam. One only had to look at a few key sequences to understand these central tennis truths.

In an unspectacular but appreciably solid first set, Serena–on serve at 4-3–broke Dementieva by doing what champions always do in the business end of a set: ramping up the intensity to make the one big push for a break. After hitting with moderate pace in the first seven games of a cautiously played match, Serena upped the ante in the eighth game. By adding a little extra velocity to her groundstrokes, she caught her Russian opponent off guard. After trailing 40-15 in that game, Serena thoroughly dominated four straight points to gain a 5-3 advantage. Armed with both a scoreboard cushion and surging self-belief, Serena unsurprisingly served out the set to draw first blood. This was the first announcement of the supremacy of the three-time Australian Open champion.

The second set, in marked contrast to the first, didn’t elevate Serena so much as it stripped Dementieva of her stature and left the frail Russian to contemplate why another Grand Slam journey ended without a trophy.

Dementieva bolted to a 3-0 lead in the set, as Serena suffered a brief but costly loss of concentration on her first service game at 0-1. Three games do not make a set, however, and Dementieva–who has been known to squander leads in the second week of a major tournament–had to show that she could steady her nerves and send the match to a third set.

Ever so clearly, the No. 4 seed proved that she wasn’t up to the challenge.

The turning point of this match was, quite remarkably, a play that–at the time–signaled a potential downturn in Serena’s fortunes. Serving at 3-1 in the second set, Dementieva saved a break point by hitting a screaming crosscourt forehand. Lunging in vain for the shot, Serena slipped and fell. Upon getting up, the American walked around gingerly, as though she was testing her footwork and movement. While Williams wasn’t injured–not to a considerable extent, at any rate–it’s never easy for a player to suffer a hard fall, because that kind of episode forces a necessarily body-conscious athlete to question his or her ability to perform, if but for a brief while. When Serena Williams fell, Elena Dementieva simply needed to play high-margin, percentage-based tennis in order to maintain her second-set advantage.

Instead, the woman who has been a top 10 mainstay on the WTA Tour sealed her own fate by showing the nerves that have haunted her throughout her career.

Seeing her opponent fall, Dementieva–who has worked so hard to improve her serve in recent months–committed not one, but two double faults to gift-wrap a break to Williams and put the second set on serve. As disastrous as that event was, it would happen again a few minutes later, with predictably firm and final consequences.

Having just broken Serena to get back to 4-all, Dementieva showed signs of shaking off the nerves that caused her to squander the three-game advantage she had attained. Just when the Russian began to relax, however, the paralyzing problems that sabotaged her serve would make a most untimely reappearance in an indoor arena’s undisturbed conditions.

In this 4-all game, Dementieva double faulted two more times–the second time at 30-all–to hand Serena a break chance. On that 30-40 point, a spectacular rally ended with Williams drilling a backhand approach to Dementieva’s forehand corner. The No. 2 seed made a great play to secure a decisive break of serve, but that break couldn’t have happened without the generosity of Dementieva.

To the astonishment of absolutely no one–be it inside the arena or in the worldwide TV audience watching the match–Serena threw down the hammer at 5-4, serving out the match with conviction and reminding her competitors who rules the roost in women’s tennis.

Saturday night, Serena Williams–on the strength of this victory–will compete for a fourth title Down Under, and a 10th slam championship overall. Such a reality is in many ways the product of a great champion’s superior will. With that having been acknowledged, a great player’s perseverance is usually accompanied by an inferior opponent’s inability to breathe in the thick air of pressure. Serena’s big-point serves and groundstrokes won her this match, but Dementieva’s 8 double faults also lost it. Fans of the Williams sisters will celebrate Serena’s virtues, while Russian tennis fans will lament Dementieva’s failings.

What does this all mean? Nothing more than the fact that a true champion and a flawed pretender were exposed in broad daylight when a ticket to a Grand Slam final was up for grabs.

Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco set up an Australian Open semifinal clash between friends, compatriots, and Davis Cup teammates by winning their respective quarterfinal matches on Wednesday in Melbourne. Verdasco turned back 2008 Australian Open runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in four sets, while Nadal dispatched Gilles Simon in three sets.

It was not a routine three sets, however, for Nadal. On the contrary, it was by far his toughest match to date of the fortnight. With a closed roof atop of Rod Laver Arena (due to the extreme heat policy taking effect) making conditions tougher for Nadal, and, in Simon, an opponent playing extremely well at the moment, the No. 1 player in the world ran into his first difficult moments of his Australian Open before pulling out a 6-2, 7-5, 7-5 victory on. Nadal need two hours and 28 minutes to book to secure his place in his second consecutive semifinal appearance at Melbourne Park.

Simon had, surprisingly, gotten the best of Nadal the last time the two players battled, only three months ago–and also indoors–at the Masters Series event in Madrid. That turned out to be a virtual marathon of sorts, ending in a third-set tiebreaker (Simon’s fourth of the week). It seemed like yet another exhausting encounter was in the works after just one game in on Wednesday. Nadal broke serve in the first game of the match, but only after four deuces and a number of extensive baseline rallies.

The top seed Down Under surged to a two-break advantage, serving at 4-1, before Simon put up a serious fight–a challenge that was not extinguished until the final ball was hit. A break at 4-1 put the Frenchman within striking distance, but Simon simply could not take care of his own serve over the course of the opening frame of play. Nadal’s third break gave him an opportunity to serve out the first set, and he did so successfully for 6-2.

Just as he did in the first, Nadal went up an early break in the second, but Simon his quarterfinal opponent has become one of the hardest players on the ATP Tour to put away and that certainly proved to be the case this time around. Not only did the No. 6 seed get the break back, but he even had a set point with the Spaniard serving at 4-5. Nadal, however, saved it and that carried him to three consecutive games and a huge two-set advantage.

The third set proceeded in an almost identical fashion to the second. The two players exchanged one break of serve each en route to 5-5, at which point Nadal yet again broke Simon, giving himself a chance to serve the match out at 6-5. One game later, Simon’s commendable effort amidst extreme odds was finally put to an end once and for all.

Nadal concluded the proceedings with 29 winners and 24 errors, not near the incredible stats he had recorded in his previous four matches, but considering Simon’s style of play and incredible defense, anything in the plus column (winners to errors) is impressive. Simon, meanwhile, sent 42 winners past Nadal and committed 41 unforced errors.

“Today was tough,” Nadal explained afterward, “because play(ing) against Simon is always difficult. I can’t play exactly my rhythm because when I play my rhythm with the forehand, trying to change directions, with the forehand for him is good. I think he feels very well two meters behind the line and running all the time.”

Verdasco also had to play under a close roof, and while it was probably a minor detriment to Nadal, it should have been a severe hindrance to Verdasco. After all, his opponent, Tsonga, much prefers cooler conditions and faster surfaces. He even won an indoor title in Paris late last season; a title that earned him a place in the prestigious year-end Masters Cup.

But apparently the extracurricular factors were of no matter to Verdasco.  The Spaniard has plenty of chances to break Tsonga’s serve in the first, but he couldn’t do it so a tiebreaker ensued. Verdasco took it easily seven points to two.

The first break of the match finally came in the second set with Verdasco serving at 2-3. A flurry of errors—almost out of nowhere—flew off the Verdasco racket and that eventually gave Tsonga a break point. During that decisive point, Verdasco controlled play and he got into net to receiver a floating shot from his opponent. With what should have been an easy put-away volley, however, Verdasco slammed way wide to give Tsonga the break. Tsonga used it to eventually take the set 6-3.

But Tsonga’s success proved to be an aberration and not the rule, and it proved to be short-lived. Verdasco raced to a 4-0 lead in the third set as Tsonga began to visibly wear down. The Frenchman began to go for huge winners very in the rallies, obviously trying to end points as quickly as possible in order to preserve both his mental and physical strength. The attempts, however, were to no avail even though he got one break back. Verdasco took the third set 6-3 and never looked back, storming past Tsonga 6-2 in the fourth.

The surprise semifinalist attributes much of his success to his experience in last season’s Davis Cup final. Verdasco and the underdog Spaniards, without Rafael Nadal, went into Argentina and stunned the host Argentines to win the 2009 title. Verdasco was the hero, winning the doubles rubber with Feliciano Lopez and then clinching the tie by defeating Jose Acasuso in five sets the very next day.

“That Davis Cup, I said too many times, it change my life so much and gave me a lot of confidence and mentally made me much stronger for these matches here,” explained Verdasco after his victory over Tsonga.

It will be the seventh career head-to-head meeting between Nadal and Verdasco when the two countrymen square off in the semifinals on Friday night. Nadal has emerged victorious on every single one of the six previous occasions. Their most recent encounter occurred last season at the French Open, where Nadal–en route to a fourth straight Roland Garros title—destroyed Verdasco 6-1, 6-0, 6-2 in the fourth round.

Ever since Steffi Graf retired in 1999, Serena Williams has been the best pressure player in women’s tennis. This well-deserved reputation was only affirmed on Wednesday afternoon in Rod Laver Arena, as the nine-time Grand Slam champion advanced to the semifinals of the Australian Open with a 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 win over Svetlana Kuznetsova.

In yet another dance with death, the younger but more accomplished Williams sister elevated her game just before bowing out of a major tournament. It was the latest high-wire act for a woman who unnecessarily tempts fate on far too many occasions, but who manages to endure her own inconsistencies by maxing out when she has to.

Late in the second set, Kuznetsova–the eighth-seeded Russian known for cracking as often as Serena excels in the late rounds of slams–held a 7-5, 5-3 lead, and stood one game away from making the final four an all-Russian affair. One day after Dinara Safina and Vera Zvonareva punched tickets to the semis in the top half of the women’s field, the Kooze was on the verge of joining Elena Dementieva as a semifinalist from the bottom half of the draw. In addition to ensuring a Grand Slam championship for her homeland, Kuznetsova was about to register one of the more redemptive and satisfying wins of her career. One-time slam champions such as the Kooze need a second crown to validate their credentials. Beating a Williams sister to reach a slam semifinal would have given Kuznetsova the kind of confidence boost that has been so elusive over the past few years.

But just when it seemed that the laws of nature would be overturned, Serena Williams restored order… and Svetlana Kuznetsova tightened up just enough to stop short of the finish line.

It needs to be said that Kuznetsova did not choke away this match–not in a larger sense, at any rate. Williams reacted to her precarious position by easily holding at 3-5 in the second set, forcing her Russian counterpart to serve out the match at 5-4. In this telltale game, Kuznetsova watched as Serena ran down hard-hit groundstrokes and ripped forehand returns on the Russian’s soft second serves. After playing passively throughout a first set played in outdoor heat, Williams remained timid after a 27-minute delay that enabled Tennis Australia to cover Laver Arena with a retractable roof. Even with the newly comfortable climate-controlled conditions–created in response to the invocation of the tournament’s extreme heat policy–the younger Williams sister couldn’t find her form against Kuznetsova.

Not, at least, until her tennis life depended on a revival. When Kuznetsova served for the match at 5-4, Williams announced her reemergence with high-level tennis. Yes, Kuznetsova butchered an easy volley at 30-40 to give Serena a set-tying and match-changing service break, but on the first five points of that game, it was Serena who stole the show. Kuznetsova cracked on one point, but the Russian hardly choked in a more expansive fashion. Serena did win 10 of the last 11 games of the match, and the American did cruise once that Kuznetsova volley floated wide, but it was only on one point that the Russian truly blinked in the heat of battle. For the most part, Serena Williams took this match away from the No. 8 seed.

So it was, then, that the laws of the jungle were reaffirmed in the world of women’s tennis. When pushed to the brink of extinction in Melbourne, Serena Williams summoned the serenity that has enabled her to thrive under pressure so many times before.

As one attempts to put this match in perspective, it’s worth recalling just how many times Serena has staved off setbacks and kept the grim reaper at bay.

In each of her three previous Australian Open championship runs, Serena stood just one or two points from defeat at some point in the tournament. In the 2003 semifinals, she came back from 1-5 in the third and fought off two match points to defeat Kim Clijsters, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. In the 2005 semifinals, Serena fought off three match points before outlasting Maria Sharapova, 2-6, 7-5, 8-6. And in the 2007 quarters, Serena was just two points away from losing to Shahar Peer before a rally carried her past the Israeli upstart, 3-6, 6-2, 8-6.

On top of these Grand Slam heroics in Australia, Serena has made a habit of saving match points in lower-tier events as well. In the Sydney tournament that preceded this year’s Australian Open, Serena saved four match points in a win over Samantha Stosur, and three more match points in a victory over Caroline Wozniacki. The more one studies the career of Serena Williams, the more one realizes how much of a stone-cold killer this athlete has always been, especially when the odds seem stacked against her.

Some of Serena’s fiercest critics would say that the younger Williams sister’s career suffers in comparison to other all-time greats, due to the inability of her competitors to drive the stake through her heart in match games and (especially) match points. In a larger context, however, such a line of analysis is impoverished and inadequate, because an individual athlete can only be measured by results and the opposing players one must defeat in order to achieve at the highest levels of competition. Yes, women like Svetlana Kuznetsova do indeed fall short with disappointing regularity in the later rounds of slams, but that’s partly a function of Serena Williams’s ability to reach the winner’s circle again and again. Her opponents might shrink in the biggest moments, but don’t let that fact diminish the considerable and consequential legacy of Serena Williams, who is once again in the hunt for a Grand Slam title Down Under.

Two of the “Big 4” (Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic) are out of the Australian Open. Now Rafael Nadal will aim to make it a 50 percent success rate for the top four players in terms of reaching the semifinals. Only Gilles Simon stands in the way of the No. 1 player in the world. Two of men’s tennis gutsiest players will  do battle in the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park on Wednesday night.

They also squared off at last year’s Australian Open, and it was Nadal who knocked Simon out in the third round. The Frenchman, however, got revenge by pulling off a shocking upset at the Masters Series Madrid. Despite a pro-Nadal Spanish crowd, Simon scored a stunner in a third-set tiebreaker to reach the title match, in which he fell to Murray. Nadal leads the head-to-head series with Simon 2-1, having also emerged as the victor on the indoor hard courts of Marseille back in 2006.

Just three months after Madrid, Nadal already looks like a completely different hard-court player. He has cruised into the quarterfinals with four straight-set victories in a row. He opened his fortnight in Melbourne with a 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 blowout of Christophe Rochus, dispatched Roko Karanusic 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 in round two, fired a hard to believe 53 winners to eight unforced errors in a  6-4, 6-2, 6-2 third-round win over Tommy Haas, and finally erased Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. It appears that Nadal has recaptured or even exceeded the form that carried him to titles at the French Open, Wimbledon, and the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Simon is also in the midst of an incredible hot streak that began during last summer’s U.S. Open Series. Highlights of his second half of 2008 included a title in Indianapolis, a runner-up finish at the Masters Series Madrid, and semifinal performances at the Masters Series Canada and year-end Masters Cup. He has dropped only two sets en route to his first career appearance in a Grand Slam quarterfinal. The Open’s No. 6 seed earned straight-set victories over Pablo Andujar and Mario Ancic, and in between took out Aussie hope Chris Guccione in four sets. Simon secured his place in the quarters when his friend and fellow Frenchman Gael Monfils retired with a wrist injury while trailing two sets to one.

Given Nadal’s current form, Simon’s style of play is not one that is going to give Nadal any serious trouble. The Spaniard is making almost no unforced errors, so he is only susceptible to an upset if an opponent overpowers him with huge serves and groundstrokes. Simon has reached the top 10 in the world rankings by tacking balls down, keeping the ball in play, and forcing his opponents into mistakes. The Frenchman is getting at turning defense into offense, so he will be able to surprise Nadal with the occasional dramatic shot every so often, but it probably won’t be anywhere close to enough.

Nadal is looking (and his heavily favored) to join Andy Roddick and Roger Federer in the 2009 Australian Open semifinals. Roddick advanced on Tuesday by taking out No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic, who retired due to fatigue amidst extreme heat conditions. The big-serving American was leading 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-2, 2-1 when Djokovic decided to call it a day.

Federer moved on to his 19th straight Grand Slam semifinal in the form of a 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 destruction of No. 8 seed Juan Martin Del Potro in the quarterfinals on Tuesday night.

The second-ranked Swiss was almost as ruthless in a post-match interview with ESPN’s Darren Cahill as he was on the court against Del Potro.

“It’s happened before,” explained Federer, when asked if he was surprised by Djokovic’s physical problems from earlier in the day. “He’s not the guy who’s never given up in his career.

“That’s kind of disappointing to see when you got two top guys playing each other and you give up. Andy probably would have run away anyway with the match.”

But Federer didn’t stop with a mere analysis of the Djokovic and Roddick quarterfinal clash. “I mean he (Djokovic) gave up against me in Monaco last year because of a sore throat,” the three-time Australian Open Champion said. “Those are the kind of things you wonder about.

“I’ve only given up basically once in my career,” he concluded. “In Paris against (James) Blake when I couldn’t move because of my back.”

You can bet there won’t be any giving up when Nadal and Simon have it out on Wednesday night.

With high flying determination, the ninth seeded entry of the gorgeous Slovakian star, Daniela Hantuchova, and sure-handed Japanese star, Ai Sugiyama, refused to lose in a stirring, three set quarterfinal win over the world’s best doubles team. With the triumph, Hantuchova and Sugiyama move to the semi-finals as the lowest seeded survivor in a topsy-turvy draw.

The midday Australian sun presented severe challenges as on-court temperatures exceeded 130 degrees Fahrenheit. Players absorbed large quantities of liquids to re-charge their batteries. The emotional match had many ebbs and tides. In the third set tiebreaker, Huber and Black seemed destined to win as they led in the tiebreaker 6-3. Hantuchova promptly won her two serves and got a quick mini-break to knot the score.

The winners played from behind most of the match. Every time Huber and Black looked to be pulling away, Hantuchova and Sugiyama tightened the reins.

As the match unfolded, Hantuchova’s supreme conditioning and powerful baseline play became the difference. A runnerup in the Grand Slam Women’s Doubles in 2002, the world’s 21st ranked singles player dominated the baseline. Her penetrating forehand kept Huber at bay and deep in the court, while her intimidating return of service forced the number one seed to gamble with a series of crossing maneuvers.

While all the players battled the heat, Hantuchova and Sugiyama seemed to have excellent team chemistry against the more experienced doubles team. While Sugiyama struggled at some key moments, she fed off Daniela’s brilliance and elevated her play, and especially her service game.

Cara Black was relentless at net. She consistently moved forward and made quick, decisive volleys. At the outset, Sugiyama’s net game seemed tentative. She was often on her heels in no-man’s land. For the ninth seed to champion the event, the Japanese star will need to press closer to the net and intercept more volleys.

While Black was clearly the best net player on the court, her inconsistent ground strokes and inability to hold serve hurt the team’s chances. Huber worked hard to keep the team in the match. At the end though, Huber’s footwork seemed heavy as her ground strokes came up short.

As the match and third set tiebreaker wore on, it was Hantuchova’s match to win or lose. She was composed and comfortable with the spunky Sugiyama, and the crowd sensed the upset.

Hantuchova and Sugiyama will next face Nathalie Dechy of France and Mara Santangelo of Italy, who defeated Spain’s 11th seeded entry of Nuria Liagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in three sets. The semi-final match will be the Spaniard’s first opportunity to reach Grand Slam finals.

That is not the case with the 10th seed, Venus and Serena Williams who were tested by Su-Wei Hsieh and Shuai Peng in a tense three set match. Serena just keeps winning in Melbourne. She may not look dominant but her record speaks for itself. The Williams sisters may be seeded 10th, but they are the bookmaker’s favorite to seal the deal.

There’s more to tennis than merely hitting a bright-colored ball. Fitness, psychology, and movement are all part of a winning equation in this sport–just ask the many competitors who have had to retire from the 2009 Australian Open for one reason or another.

Yet, as often as tennis matches are decided for reasons other than shotmaking, it remains that the ability to swing the weapon in your hand is the central aspect of the game played on a rectangle sliced into several different boxes. If you don’t know what to do with a racket, you can’t make a living in tennis.

Tuesday night in Rod Laver Arena, Roger Federer reminded a silently amazed crowd–and a powerless 20-year-old from Argentina–how well he can whack a small sphere around a rectangle.

Intent on putting a sluggish fourth-round performance behind him, Federer rose to the height of his powers in a breathtaking blowout win over Juan Martin Del Potro. The 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 shellacking–which lasted just 80 minutes–did more than propel the Swiss into his 19th consecutive Grand Slam singles semifinal. The thrashing told the tennis world that Sunday’s sloppy five-set win over Tomas Berdych was an aberration and not something to be expected on a regular basis.

With Del Potro reaching his second straight Grand Slam quarterfinal, the No. 6 player in the world–seeded eighth for this tournament–intended to announce his arrival as an elite player. Instead, the 27-year-old veteran on the other side of the net showed the young Argentine how far he’ll have to go to win a major title.

One of the more remarkable aspects of this match is that in the first set and the beginning of the second set, Del Potro really didn’t play that poorly. The tall and lanky challenger resisted the Swiss champion with above-average defense, chasing down overheads and returning them with interest. Del Potro’s court coverage temporarily blunted the blistering groundstrokes of the No. 2 seed, who was dialed in from the very start of the proceedings. Del Potro would have beaten anyone outside the top 10 with the level of play he exhibited in that first set. Against a full-flight Federer, he got whacked by a 6-3 score. Del Potro’s defense remained solid for the next few games, but with Federer refusing to miss at the start of the second set, the Argentine–still not accustomed to the second week of a slam–began to lose faith. Under the circumstances, anyone other than Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray probably would have done the same thing.

Del Potro slumped his shoulders, lost some of the vigor that enabled him to compete on reasonable terms, and saw his appetite vanish. Sensing his opponent’s negative outlook, a ravenous Federer pounced, and as a result, the hungry champion–looking for yet another Grand Slam trophy–was able to eat a pair of bagels in the second and third sets. The late-night breakfast enabled the Swiss to get off the court before midnight in a match that started at 10:15 p.m. in Melbourne. After seeing what happened with Novak Djokovic following the Serb’s late fourth-round match on Sunday, Federer has to be relieved that he’ll be fresh for his semifinal showdown against Andy Roddick.

Just how grand was the display fashioned by Federer? So many words have been written, so much ink spilled, so much bandwidth used, in order to describe the majesty of this peerless performer’s brilliance on the occasions when he finds perfect clarity on the court. The sight of seeing Federer locked in the zone all great athletes hope to attain is an experience that has given tennis fans the thrill of ecstasy over the past five years. That familiar feeling returned on Tuesday night, as manifested in so many ways. While Federer was thoroughly businesslike in this quarterfinal conquest, the Swiss was equally artful and balletic as he annihilated his Argentine counterpart. A few snapshots told the tale of a virtuoso performance:

* On multiple occasions, Federer faked a drop shot and pushed a gentle off-pace forehand to Del Potro’s backhand corner. The combination of creative thinking and seemingly effortless execution made it hard to determine whether Federer was bored with the progression of the lopsided match, or immensely pleased about the chance to open up his arsenal. At any rate, his faked drop shots indicated just how thoroughly Fed was able to toy with his opponent.

* Very early in the third set, Federer broke Del Potro by carving under a forehand drop shot (one he didn’t fake). The amount of touch was perfect, but what added to the beauty of the shot was that the ball spun sideways after bouncing on Del Potro’s side of the court. Novak Djokovic routinely uses a world-class drop shot to win cheap points, but on the occasion when Federer uses a dropper, the Swiss executes the shot better than anyone else in men’s tennis.

* Another sign that Federer is feeling full of himself is when he runs around the backhand return to crush a forehand outside the doubles alley. The Swiss superstar’s ability to not only read the Del Potro serve, but blast it with considerable consistency, applied the kind of pressure that gave the Argentine ample reason to question himself on the court. Perhaps sensing that a decisive win would pay off in future matches between the two, Federer never let up against Del Potro and made sure that his young opponent would carry the memory of this loss for some time to come.

All in all, Federer not only won yet another slam quarterfinal in this 80-minute masterpiece; this 13-time major champion regained the authoritative groundstokes and first-rate footwork he’ll need in his next match. Andy Roddick is likely to serve, defend and compete in ways that Juan Martin Del Potro has not yet discovered, but if Roger Federer maintains the form he displayed Tuesday night, it’s safe to say that Roddick’s best will still fall short.