Friday at the season-opening event

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MELBOURNE, Australia -- Rafael Nadal continued his dominant streak over Roger Federer to reach the Australian Open final for the third time, beating the 17-time major winner 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-3 Friday night to set up a championship decider against No. 8-seeded Stan Wawrinka. With his 23rd win in 33 matches against Federer, the 27-year-old Spaniard set up an ideal chance to win a 14th Grand Slam title and to become the first man to win all four majors at least twice in the Open era. Nadal missed the 2013 Australian Open during a seven-month layoff for illness and a knee injury, but returned to win the French and U.S. Opens among his 10 titles for the season and finished the year at No. 1. He won the Australian Open in 2009, beating Federer in the final, and lost in a five-set, 5-hour, 53-minute 2012 final to Novak Djokovic after ousting Federer in the semis. In other years, hes struggled with injuries -- its the only Grand Slam tournament he hasnt won at least twice. "Its really, really emotional for me to be back on this court, Rod Laver Arena, and to be able to play another final," Nadal said. "I think tonight I played the best match of the tournament. I go on court (against Federer) knowing that is a really tough match and if I am not playing my best, I will not have the chance to win." At the end of the night, Federer knew he wouldnt even be the No. 1-ranked player in Switzerland next week. By reaching his first major final, Wawrinka ensured hed replace Federer as their countrys highest-ranked player for the first time. But the 32-year-old Federer is confident of winning more majors, expecting some coaching from Stefan Edberg and continued improvement in his fitness to help after a slump in 2013, when he didnt reach any of the major finals for the first time in 11 years. "I still think my best tennis is only ahead of me now," said Federer, who reached the Australian Open semifinals for 11 consecutive years. Nadal is now second on the list of players reaching Grand Slam finals, joining Ivan Lendl on 19 -- Federer leads the list with 24. Another Grand Slam title would lift Nadal to equal second on the all-time list with Pete Sampras, who was in the crowd for the match. Nadal has struggled with a blister on the palm of his left hand in his last two matches, but he removed the heavy tape that affected his serve in his quarterfinal win over Grigor Dimitrov and replaced it with one square of adhesive tape. A TV camera got a close-up view of the blister when he took a medical timeout after the first game of the second set, drawing gasps and groans from the crowd. "Too much talk about the blister. The blister is OK," Nadal said in his on-court interview. "The problem ... is the position of the blister, its difficult." But, he said, he didnt feel any pain. He certainly didnt show it if he did. He resisted just about everything Federer threw at him, scrambling to keep balls in play that usually would be winners. Federer served and volleyed, he played with good touch, he played drop shots, he tried everything -- even complaining to the chair umpire about Nadals loud grunting after the tiebreaker -- but his 50 resulting unforced errors doubled the number by his rival. Left-handed Nadal hit 13 of his 28 winners on his powerful forehand, attacking Federers one-handed backhand yet again. "I tried a few things ... then again, Rafa does a good job of neutralizing you," Federer said. "So I guess at times I couldnt quite do what I wanted to do, but thats because of Rafa." The first break of the match came in the sixth game of the second set, giving Nadal a 4-2 lead. That only heightened the crowd support for Federer, who got a standing ovation when he broke Nadal back to make it 2-all in the third set, immediately after dropping serve in the previous game. It noise and chants died down again when Federer was broken again soon after and Nadal finished off the match. Wawrinka beat Tomas Berdych on Thursday night, getting an extra day off ahead of Sundays championship match. Li Na will be hoping for third time lucky in the womens final on Saturday against Dominika Cibulkova. She has reached the finals in three of the past four years, but is yet to win the Australian title. Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci rallied to win the last five games and successfully defended their Australian Open womens doubles title on Friday with a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 victory over Russian pair Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina. Kemba Walker Jersey . The team was able to halt a four- game losing streak with an 84-79 victory versus Boston Friday night. DeMar DeRozan scored 22 points and Linas Kleiza added 17 for the Raptors, who were playing without Andrea Bargnani (calf) and Jose Calderon (lacerated eyebrow). Cody Zeller Jersey . The Texas ace wasnt necessarily celebrating his first complete game in the major leagues. His battery mate says he does that all the time. "He just kind of looked at me and goes, Yeah! Thats what I said back to him," Gimenez said. http://www.authentichornetsstore.com/womens-marvin-williams-basketball-jersey/ . - Dont tell Green Bay Packers linebacker Vic Sooto the last pre-season game doesnt mean anything. Alonzo Mourning Hornets Jersey . -- Two-time AL Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana agreed Tuesday to a minor league contract with the Baltimore Orioles as he tries to come back from the second major operation on his left shoulder. Cody Zeller Hornets Jersey . Scolaris 23-name list includes 16 players who were in the team that won last years warm-up tournament by beating world champion Spain in the final. It will be a squad inexperienced in World Cups, however, with only six players who featured in past tournaments.CALGARY -- American Steven Holcomb completed a sweep of the mens World Cup bobsled races Saturday with a victory in the four-man event while Canadian Chris Spring just missed the podium with a fourth-place finish. Holcomb, the reigning Olympic gold medallist, guided his team of Curt Tomasevicz, Steven Langton and Chris Fogt to a two-run time of one minute 48.56 seconds at Canada Olympic Park. Germanys Maximilian Arndt and Russias Alexander Zubkov finished tied for second place in 1:48.65 and Spring, from Calgary, was fourth in 1:48.67. "Were a little off the podium, its not what we wanted but there are lots of positives to come out of this," Spring said. "Well leave here pretty happy and moving on to the next stop, weve got some good momentum coming our way." Spring was eighth after the first run but had the fastest time in the second run on a cool, overcast afternoon. Holcomb and Langton won gold in the two-man race on Friday at the season-opening event..dddddddddddd "For us to have this first World Cup under our belts with a new team and new equipment, its kind of like having a monkey off our back," Langton said. "It gives us that confidence moving forward." Spring and Jesse Lumsden of Burlington, Ont., won bronze in the two-man race. They were joined by Cody Sorensen of Ottawa and Saskatoons Ben Coakwell for the four-man competition. The other Canadian sleds also cracked the top 10 on Saturday. Lyndon Rush of Humboldt, Sask., was sixth in 1:48.88 and Justin Kripps of Summerland, B.C., was ninth in 1:49.02. Rush was joined by David Bissett and Neville Wright, both of Edmonton, and Calgarys Lascelles Brown. Kripps piloted James MacNaughton of Newmarket, Ont., Torontos Tim Randall and Graeme Rinholm of Medicine Hat, Alta. The womens bobsled race was scheduled for Saturday afternoon. Kaillie Humphries of Calgary and Heather Moyse of Summerside, P.E.I., were expected to be medal contenders. cheap nfl jerseys Cheap nhl Jerseys ' ' '