Nadal wary of improving Spanish rival Verdasco

RAFAEL NADAL is looking forward to taking on his Davis Cup team-mate in the Australian Open semi-finals tomorrow and expects Fernando Verdasco to provide by far his sternest challenge so far.

Spain’s world number one has played his 25-year-old compatriot six times and dropped just one set to him.

But after watching Verdasco’s defeat of world number four Andy Murray in the fourth round and his quarter-final triumph against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Nadal is expecting a great deal more from his friend.

“It’s always good to play against a Spanish player in the semi-finals of a grand slam,” Nadal said.

“It’s very good news for us because one player is going to be in the final.

“But Fernando is playing at his best level. I’ve never played against him when he has been playing at the level he is right now because I think he has never played at this level before.

“Sometimes in the past he made some mistakes at important moments and he lost a little bit of concentration. But right now he’s changed that.

“I saw his two matches against Murray and Tsonga. He was very focused all the time and knew what he wanted to do all the time, so it will be very tough.”

Meanwhile, Andy Roddick was aiming to upset form and the history books this morning against long-time rival Roger Federer in the first semi-final.

In the women’s, Serena Williams booked a semi-final clash with Russian Elena Dementieva after grinding out a 5-7 7-5 6-1 win against Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Kuznetsova was angry following her defeat after play was suspended and the Rod Laver Arena roof closed following the implementation of the extreme heat policy, in which all matches on the outside courts were suspended.

When the players returned Williams, rejuvenated in the cooler conditions, went on to win the remaining two sets.

“Yeah I was definitely angry,” Kuznetsova said. “Why should I not be? The game was going my way. I’m fine playing with the roof open. I think the guys yesterday had the same weather. Everybody was playing with the roof open. Why today they had to close it? I didn’t get it.”

Third seed Dinara Safina is up against Vera Zvonareva in the other semi-final.