Top-ranked Rafael Nadal outlasted fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (2), 6-7 (1), 6-4 today to reach the Australian Open final after the longest match in the tournament’s history.

The fans were riveted as the left-handed Davis Cup teammates went at each other for 5 hours and 14 minutes. There were no arguments, no gamesmanship, just great shots, with the momentum shifting on a handful of key points.

The previous longest match at Melbourne Park came in 1991, when Boris Becker needed 5 hours and 11 minutes to beat Italian Omar Camporese, with the fifth set going 14-12.

Nadal earned the right to try to keep second-ranked Roger Federer from tying Pete Sampras’ record of 14 major titles on Sunday. Federer advanced to his 18th Grand Slam final with a straight sets win over Andy Roddick yesterday

I am not really tennis fan but I follow the sport as well. In tennis I always prefer Federer to Nadal although my wife though that “Rafael” was a cool name instead of “Roger”. But last night match is truly magnificent..5 hours running and hitting is out of this world. Tennis is not like badminton…you must hit hard in every ball. I just wonder….why NO Malaysia football players has a gut and stamina like Nadal & Verdasco or as any world class tennis players. If we only have one player..maybe we can improve a lot….

National head coach B. Sathianathan said both teams might have their own tactical games but at the end, only the team which can last the pace for 90 minutes can win the match.

“And the fitness factor worries me because based on the fitness test conducted at the National Sports Institute (NSI) last week, only three of them passed while the others were just average,” he told reporters, here today.

He admitted that although his charges should be fit enough as all of them are fresh from the Malaysian league which kicked-off early January, most of the players did not reach the international fitness standard.