It's Federer and Nadal

PARIS — For a man on the threshold of winning a coveted tennis marathon, Roger Federer looked fresh and relaxed on Friday as he waved to the French Open crowd, his dark hair dangling in his eyes and his latest victim shuffling out the door.

It has been, quite surprisingly, that sort of tournament at Roland Garros for the world’s top-ranked player, who now finds himself just one victory from joining Rod Laver and Don Budge as the only men to win four Grand Slam singles titles in a row.

Federer has yet to play a fifth set on his way to his first French Open final, and even in the semifinals on Friday, when David Nalbandian was blowing him away in the wind, 6-3, 3-0, Federer ended up making a short day’s work of it, as Nalbandian strained an abdominal muscle two games later and eventually retired from the match with Federer ahead, 3-6, 6-4, 5-2.

There has been more concern than edge-of-the-cliff danger for Federer in Paris, more widespread interest in his efforts than drama. But it is hard to imagine he won’t work up a genuine sweat on Sunday against Rafael Nadal.

The matchup won’t dominate the global sports conversation with the soccer World Cup now under way, but it is the sort of final that Roland Garros has long been waiting for: one that breaks free of the clay-court mold and pits the sport’s No. 1 and No. 2 against each other for the Coupe des Mousquetaires.

What makes it all the more intriguing is that Federer, the world’s dominant player, is trying to make history against a player who has dominated their rivalry.

Nadal has won five of their six matches and is 3-0 against Federer in 2006, having defeated him in the final in Dubai on a hard court and in the finals in Monte Carlo and Rome on clay. Now comes the big one.

“I think it will be a beautiful final,” said Nadal, just minutes after finishing off Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, 6-4, 6-2, 7-6, (5) in the second semifinal.

Asked earlier in the day if he had thought through the sporting significance of his opportunity to win four majors in a row, Federer answered, “Yes.” Then he smiled, as if to say, “Of course.”

“It would be something quite incredible,” he said. “It hasn’t happened for such a long time. To have created this opportunity, it’s unbelievable, so we’ll see what happens.”

If it happens, it will not be a true Grand Slam, which requires a player to win all four majors in the same calendar year. The only men to manage that are Budge in 1938 and Laver in 1962 and 1969.

But Federer’s self-styled “Roger Slam” would still make him the first man in close to 40 years to hold all four trophies in a row.

“I think I’d like to see Roger do it,” Laver said in a telephone interview from his home in California, where he intends to watch Sunday’s final on television. “It’s a great opportunity for him to make a mark in tennis.”

If Nadal wins, it would be his 60th consecutive victory on clay.

After riding his big serve, improved fitness and all-court game to the No. 4 ranking, Ljubicic was displeased that Nadal received only one warning for slow play during the match. “I think the umpire should be more aggressive on that, because it’s ridiculous how much time he takes,” Ljubicic said.

He also did not agree with the line calling in the third-set tie-breaker, when Nadal hit an ace at 5-5 and again at 7-7. Ljubicic argued with the chair umpire Carlos Ramos over both calls but did not win the argument. Nadal eventually won the match with a forehand hook of a passing shot down the line.

He wished Federer better luck. “I would love to see Roger win it,” he said. “He is the best player probably ever in tennis, and it would be, I think, nice to see him lifting the trophy here.”

For close to an hour Friday, it looked like he might not get the chance to play on Sunday, thanks to Nalbandian, who used to be Federer’s bete noire-in-chief until Nadal surfaced. The Argentine, who seems more physically imposing with every season, came out of the blocks generating enormous pace and depth. His more compact strokes were functioning better in the stiff breeze, which was whipping up clay and playing tricks with Federer’s beautiful game.

While Federer shanked one-handed backhands off the frame and watched his second serves come back in a hurry for winners, Nalbandian ticked off games swiftly, winning the first set in 29 minutes as the stands on center court and the seats in the presidential box remained largely empty. But at 3-0 for Nalbandian in the second set, Federer showed signs of steadying the ship, hitting three forehand winners to hold.

That, as it turned out, would be the last game that both players were healthy. According to Nalbandian, he felt pain in an abdominal muscle while hitting a second serve in the next game. He had re-aggravated a strain that he said he sustained against Nikolay Davydenko in the final set of their quarterfinal.

“We were thinking that two days off to recover would be enough,” Nalbandian said. “But though it was just a small sensation against Davydenko, this time it felt like a small tear. It was much more painful.”

Yet Nalbandian showed no obvious signs of distress and played on, double faulting to lose his serve at love. Federer then held to make it 3-3, and on the first point of Nalbandian’s next service game, Federer hit one of the shots of this or any tournament.

With both men at the net, Nalbandian hit a reflex lob volley that caught Federer by surprise and sent him dashing back to the baseline with the ball bouncing away from him toward the stands. It was a moment when most mere tennis mortals would have tried a between-the-legs shot.

Federer’s body language said he was about to do the same, but he changed his mind and whipped his racket down past his left leg and hit a blind screamer of a winner past Nalbandian at the net.

“Incredible, incredible,” Nalbandian said.

Federer celebrated, atypically, by showboating and thrusting his index finger in the air.

It certainly looked like a point worthy of a turning point, and as Federer ran off five games in a row to take command of the second set, who could argue?

But what could have been an epic match soon turned into a short story with a depressing final paragraph as Nalbandian called for a trainer while trailing, 1-2, in the third set, then walked to the net four games later and surrendered.

It was the ninth retirement in the men’s tournament this year: an Open era record.

“I prefer to lose because the other player is playing better,” Nalbandian said. “I don’t like to lose in this way. But this injury, I’ve already had two or three times already, and normally it happens in very long tournaments with very tough matches with many sets, where I spend a lot of time on the court.”

Nalbandian had to rally from a two-set deficit to defeat Dmitry Tursunov in the third round. He went four sets against Richard Gasquet in the second round and against Davydenko. But Federer is still waiting to be pushed to the limit, and now only Nadal has a chance to do the pushing.

Henin-Hardenne tries for third French title in four years

If Justine Henin-Hardenne can beat Svetlana Kuznetsova today in the French Open final, she will collect her third title in four years at Roland Garros, something last accomplished by Steffi Graf in 1993-96.

That also would give Henin-Hardenne a total of five Grand Slam titles, matching Venus Williams and Martina Hingis.