Federer goes for Grand Slam

Roger Federer en route to defeating Nikolay Davydenko during their French Open semifinal Keystone

Swiss world tennis number one Roger Federer has reached the final of the French Open, the only grand slam title still eluding him.

He defeated fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko 7-5, 7-6, 7-6 on Friday to enter a dream final on Sunday against his Spanish nemesis Rafael Nadal, who beat him last year.

The second-seeded Nadal, who is the defending champion, took out 20-year-old Serb Novak Djokovic in three straight sets in the other semi-final.

Federer was a semi-finalist in Paris in 2005 and a finalist last year. If he wins this year, it will be his 11th grand slam title.

The top-seeded Swiss is also trying to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win the Grand Slam – four consecutive major tournament titles – a feat he acknowledged “would boost my career in an incredible way”.

Federer has now won all nine of his matches against Davydenko but he had to work for his win on Friday – having to change his shirt twice – to come from behind in all three sets.

Struggle

Federer looked lacklustre for much of the match, committing 45 unforced errors, but he saved three set points in the final set to reach his eighth consecutive major final, a record.

Federer found the three-hour semifinal a struggle from the start. He fell behind 2-4, 0-40 in the opening set before he rallied, repeatedly erasing break points with big serves and breaking in the final game.

When the set ended, Davydenko had converted one of 11 break-point chances, and Federer was two-for-two.

Davydenko kept Federer pinned behind the baseline, and in each of the next two sets the Russian served for the set – but failed to close it out.

The most remarkable seesaw sequence came with Davydenko serving at 5-3 in the third set. During the sloppy 20-point game, Federer failed to convert five break-point chances and Davydenko squandered two set points, sailing a forehand long each time.

The Russian held one last set point at 7-6 in the final tiebreaker, but Federer hit a service winner. Two points later, Davydenko chipped a backhand wide to give a visibly relieved Federer victory.

“I could have lost in three sets,” Federer said. “He’s an excellent player. It’s a superb win for me before the final.”

“Match of the Year”

Federer versus Nadal will be the match of the year because of the stakes. Federer is trying to become only the second man in the open era (post-1968) to win the Grand Slam.

“If [Federer] wins the French Open, he’ll be the greatest player of all time,” said John McEnroe, who knows how much frustration clay can cause. McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Jimmy Connors, Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg are among the grand slam champions who never won the French Open.

Federer has now won 27 consecutive grand slam matches, three shy of the record Laver set in 1969-70. Federer’s most recent loss was to Nadal in Paris last year.

Nadal is 19-0 at Roland Garros, 32-0 in best-of-five-set matches on clay and bidding to become the first man to win three consecutive French titles since Bjorn Borg in 1978-81.

Nadal won a record 81 consecutive clay-court matches before losing to Federer in the Hamburg final in May.

swissinfo with agencies

Grand Slams

A player who holds all four grand slam titles – the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open – at the same time is said to have achieved the Grand Slam. A “True” Grand Slam is when all titles are won in the same calendar year.

Rod Laver is the only male player in the open era (post-1968) to achieve a Grand Slam (which was also “true”), in 1969. Andre Agassi won all four titles but in different years (a Career Grand Slam).

Grand slam titles (open era):
14: Pete Sampras
11: Björn Borg
10: Roger Federer
8: Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl