Nadal May Pull Rank on Blake

Rafael Nadal, the only human living on the same tennis planet as Roger Federer, kept the dream alive for promoters and fans alike at the Pacific Life Open on Friday night.

The Spanish teenager, 19 until June 3, withstood a swirling wind on a barely-50-degree evening, as well as the pride of Cyprus, Marcos Baghdatis, in a 7-5, 6-0 victory that put him into today’s semifinals against American James Blake.

If Nadal beats Blake, and the world’s No. 1, Federer, gets past Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand in their semifinal, Sunday’s final will match Nadal and Federer for the second consecutive ATP Tour final. And, unlike just about any other person, Nadal not only has a chance to win, but he has a winning record against Federer, who won here the last two years. When Nadal won two weeks ago in the final at Dubai, it stretched his record against Federer to 3-1.

Nadal got all he could handle in the first set from Baghdatis, the relative newcomer who set the tennis world on its ear at the Australian Open by beating David Nalbandian, Ivan Ljubicic and Andy Roddick on the way to the final. There, he lost to Federer in four sets.

Baghdatis’ run to the quarterfinals of this Tennis Masters Series at Indian Wells indicated that Australia was no fluke, as does his 6-5 record against top-10 players, four of those five losses being to Federer and the fifth to Nadal on Friday night.

He matched the lefty Nadal’s heavy topspin shots and sharply angled baseline offerings until 5-6 of the first set, where Baghdatis hit long on the first set point and Nadal had the lead after 64 minutes. That seemed to take all the air out of the Cypriot, and despite saving three match points at 0-5 in the second set, Baghdatis was gone in 34 minutes.

“Nadal got confident in the second set, he wasn’t missing a ball,” Baghdatis said. “It was the first time I play against him. He has a good forehand, a good backhand, has every shot.”

Nadal, looking forward, said, “Blake is playing tough, and has an unbelievable forehand. I’m going to have a very difficult match.”

And looking back, to the U.S. Open last year, he recalled losing there to Blake.

“Maybe my worst tournament, maybe in the year,” he said. “But against Blake, I played my best match in the U.S. Open.”

Blake also has had an unbelievable run of late, starting off this season with an 18-4 record, including two titles, in Sydney and Las Vegas, and propelling himself into the top 10 for the first time in his career with Friday’s quarterfinal win.

In that match, he beat the Russian who had upset Roddick on Thursday, Igor Andreev. The score was 6-1, 6-4, and although Blake was faster and more crisp in his shot-making, Andreev played, at times, like somebody who would have had trouble beating Andy Rooney, much less Andy Roddick.

He made 31 unforced errors and seemed to have a game that relied completely on a rocket forehand while the rest of his game resembled a pop gun.

Blake, the former All-American from Harvard, who was ranked No. 151 when he played this tournament a year ago, can move as high as No. 7 if he wins this tournament.

That would be amazing, because, in 2004, he broke his back in a freak practice-session accident and later had an illness that affected his vision and hearing and actually left him paralyzed on one side.

“I realize there is more to life than tennis,” he said. “This is what I missed so much when I was having a down time, when I was on the couch, when I couldn’t really walk without being dizzy. It’s a lot of fun to be back.”

Blake’s ascent into the top 10 marked the first time three American men have been there since February 2000, when Andre Agassi was No. 1, Pete Sampras No. 3 and Todd Martin No. 10. Agassi will be ranked No. 9 and Roddick No. 4.

Srichaphan, who outlasted Jarkko Nieminen in a late-night marathon Thursday, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 7-5, will be the only unseeded player in the men’s semifinals, with Federer No. 1, Nadal No. 2 and Blake No. 12.