Federer vs. Nadal again at French Open finals

A decidedly lackluster Federer eked out a straight-sets win over Nikolai Davydenko at the semifinals of the French Open, 7-5 7-6(5) 7-6(7). He had to fight back from a break down in each set as Davydenko seemingly would not believe that he could defeat the Swiss world tennis number one. One commentator even jokingly noted that Davydenko had changed to an orange shirt in the third set perhaps in order to blend in with the court and make it difficult for Federer to see him. Nevertheless, a visibly relieved Federer was satisfied with his performance:

"It was tight until the end. I could have lost in three sets but I won. He's an excellent player and that was a good test for me before the final."

What's more is that he managed to set yet another record along the way by making his eighth consecutive appearance at the finals of a grand slam tournament.

He will once again face world tennis number two and second seed Rafael Nadal who defeated a feisty Novak Djokovic 7-5 6-4 6-2 in a much more scintillating match in the other semifinals. Nadal is now the only man who stands between Federer and the only grand slam title to elude him as well as the distinction of being only the third man to hold all four grand slam titles at the same time.