Who would have thought we would see these two immense champions face each other in a Grand Slam final again?
Rafael Nadal’s road to the final
I never dreamed to be back in the final of the Australian Open. It’s a very special thing for both of us to be playing again in a major final. Neither of us probably thought we would be here again.
| Round | Opponent | Score |
| R1 | Florian Mayer | 6-3 6-4 6-4 |
| R2 | Marcos Baghdatis | 6-3 6-1 6-3 |
| R3 | Alexander Zverev (24) | 4-6 6-3 6-7 6-3 6-2 |
| R4 | Gaël Monfils (6) | 6-3 6-3 4-6 6-4 |
| QF | Milos Raonic (3) | 6-4 7-6 6-4 |
| SF | Grigor Dimitrov (15) | 6-3 5-7 7-6 6-7 6-4 |
Roger Federer’s road to the final
I’ll leave it all out here in Australia and if I can’t walk for another five months, that’s OK.
| Round | Opponent | Score |
| R1 | Jürgen Melzer | 7-5 3-6 6-2 6-2 |
| R2 | Noah Rubin | 7-5 6-3 7-6 |
| R3 | Tomas Berdych (10) | 6-2 6-4 6-4 |
| R4 | Kei Nishikori (5) | 7-6 4-6 1-6 |
| QF | Mischa Zverev | 6-1 7-5 6-2 |
| SF | Stan Wawrinka (4) | 7-5 6-3 1-6 4-6 6-3 |
Serena and Venus will meet on Saturday in ninth all-Williams Grand Slam final. Serena will hit the court wearing the NikeCourt Dry dress:
Follow our Australian Open coverage.
17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer, who faces Stan Wawrinka in the semifinal of the Australian Open, wears the NIKECOURT RF ADVANTAGE polo and the NikeCourt 7″ Flex Tennis Short:
Follow our Australian Open coverage.
Garbine Muguruza, Belinda Bencic, Kei Nishikori and a few other players attended the traditional IMG party prior to the Australian Open. Enjoy some few pictures:
Day 1 – first round
– Defending champion Angelique Kerber struggles but gets past Lesia Tsurenko in three sets.
– Number 4 seed Simona Halep is ousted by world number 52 Shelby Rogers 6-3 6-1.
– Playing in his first Grand Slam match since he became world number one, Andy Murray defeats Illya Marchenko in straight sets.
– Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic survive five-set scare against respectively Martin Klizan and Jerzy Janowicz
– In his return to competition, Federer loses a set, but wins his first match since Wimbledon last year.
– Aussie teen Alex De Minaur, making is Grand Slam debut, fought back from a match point down to beat Gerald Melzer in a five-set marathon.
Day 2 – first round
– World number 2 Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic are safely through to second round despite challenging first round matches -on paper. 6-4 6-3 for Serena over Belinda Bencic, 6-1 7-6 6-2 for Djokovic over Fernando Verdasco.
– No trouble for Rafael Nadal who cruises past Florian Mayer 6-3 6-4 6-4. He next faces 2006 runner-up Marcos Baghdatis.
– Big troubles on the contrary for David Goffin who needs five sets to defeat young American Reilly Opelka.
– Playing in his 60th consecutive Grand Slam tournament, number 28 seed Feliciano Lopez lost to Fabio Fognini in straight sets.
– 37-year-old Ivo Karlovic fired 75 aces! to overcome Horacio Zeballos in a five-set marathon 6-7 3-6 7-5 6-2 22-20.
Day 3 – second round
– Another hard-fought win for world number one Angelique Kerber who defeats fellow German Carine Witthoeft 6-2 6-7 6-2. She’s turning 29 today.
– Garbine Muguruza booked her place in the third round with a clean 7-5 6-4 win over Samantha Crawford.
– Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka cruise into the third round with straight sets wins over Andrey Rublev and Steve Johnson.
– Andreas Seppi rallies from 2 sets down, saves a match point and downs Kyrgios 1-6 6-7 6-4 6-2 10-8.
– Like Seppi, Mischa Zverev came back from the dead to defeat John Isner 6-7 6-7 6-4 7-6 9-7.
– Sydney runner-up Dan Evans registers the biggest win of his career so far with a four-set victor over Marin Cilic.
– Matches to follow on day 4:
Naomi Osaka – Johanna Konta
Lucie Safarova – Serena Williams
Marcos Baghdatis – Rafael Nadal
Radek Stepanek -David Goffin
Benoît Paire – Fabio Fognini
