| Friday, 4 July 2008 Written by Drew Lilley Download Radio Wimbledon's day 11 podcast It is the final that most people wanted and almost everyone expected. On Sunday afternoon, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will fight it out for supremacy in SW19 for the third consecutive year. Neither player had been overly stretched in the tournament so far, Nadal dropping just one set (to Ernests Gulbis in the second round) and Federer brandishing an unblemished record. Both cruised through their semi-finals against unseeded opposition. On paper, Federer was facing the tougher task in the form of a resurgent Marat Safin, but the two-time Grand Slam winner made a slow start, losing his opening service game and swishing his first racquet in frustration at 4-1 down. Federer then seemed to slip into stand-by mode, content to hold serve – which was enough to secure the first set and get him through to a second set tie-break, duly dominated. The third set also went with serve until the 12th game, when the energy-conserving five-time champion upped the ante to break and win the match 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4. Nadal’s match was similarly low-key, at least as far as the No. 2 seed was concerned. Schuettler was slow out of the blocks and when Nadal took the first set 6-1, a rout looked on the cards. The German played out of his skin in the second, however, breaking and then holding serve with grim determination. He took it as far as 5-4, but the world No. 94 could not serve out for the set. The ensuing tie-break was dominated by the Spaniard, who went on to break Schuettler’s second service game of the third set. Though the German had the consolation of saving three match points on his own serve at 5-3, Nadal served out to win by a scoreline – 6-1, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 – that bore a remarkable resemblance to Federer’s. In a men’s doubles semi-final carried over from Thursday, No. 2 seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic made it to their second consecutive Grand Slam final by overcoming No. 9 seeds Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes 8-6 in the final set. They face No. 8 seeds Jonas Bjorkman and Kevin Ullyett, who ousted the Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, a day earlier. The doubles specialist-brothers will, however, contest the mixed doubles final – obviously on opposite sides of the net. Bob and Samantha Stosur defeated defending champion Jamie Murray and Liezel Huber, while Mike and Katarina Srebotnik beat Igor Andreev and Maria Kirilenko. Another sibling pair – the Williams sisters – took the penultimate step towards a clean sweep of the ladies’ silverware by winning through to the doubles finals, defeating Nathalie Dechy and Casey Dellacqua in straight sets. They will face Sam Stosur and Lisa Raymond on Saturday evening – by which time one of the sisters will already have hoisted the Venus Rosewater Dish aloft.
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Rafael Sets Up Dream Final
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