Rafa fights back to beat Federer in Madrid

Reuters) - Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer served up another classic in the 24th chapter of their great rivalry on Saturday, Nadal battling back from a set down to win 5-7 6-1 6-3 and secure a place in the Madrid Masters final.

The Spanish world number one, who replaced Federer at the top of the rankings, made the most of his opponent’s lack of consistency to set up a meeting in Sunday’s final against second seed Novak Djokovic or Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci.

While the match under the closed roof of a packed Magic Box arena lacked the spine-tingling drama of previous showdowns, some of the shot-making, incuding one incredible exchange in the final game, drew gasps of delight from the 12,500 spectators.

“We know each other very, very well and I think we are sometimes thinking more about what to do to bother the other player rather than playing our best,” Nadal, who took his win-loss record against Federer to 16-8, told a news conference.

“Here I think Roger played great tennis for some moments but at others he made more mistakes than usual.

“But it’s always a special match and it’s a pleasure playing against him, it’s always an honour.”

The heavyweight pair, who own 26 grand slam singles titles between them, had met in the last two Madrid finals, with Federer winning in 2009 and Nadal gaining revenge last year.