MELBOURNE, Australia (AP):

After five arduous hours, Rafael Nadal couldn't hold back the tears when he pulled within a point of making the Australian Open final. Yet, he managed to compose himself and held off Fernando Verdasco in five sets.

Verdasco double-faulted after saving two match points and Nadal won 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (2), 6-7 (1), 6-4 in the longest match in the tournament's history. Nadal flopped on his back - exhausted and elated - after a match few expected to go long.

The five-hour, 14-minute semi-final between the Spanish left-handers started at dusk yesterday and ended in the wee hours at 1:07 a.m. this morning.

The top-ranked Nadal advanced to another final against Roger Federer, who is bidding to equal Pete Sampras' record 14 Grand Slam singles titles.

"Today was, yeah, one of these matches you going to remember long time, no?" Nadal said. "Well, the emotion was big."

Especially when the score got to love-40 in the last game. "I start to cry ... too much tension," he said.

More tension

Nadal can expect more tension tomorrow when he meets Federer for the seventh time to decide a Grand Slam. Nadal has a 4-2 edge highlighted by last year's epic 4:48, five-set win at Wimbledon.

Verdasco, the 14th seed, had never been beyond the fourth round at a major.

The 25-year-old Verdasco beat No. 4 Andy Murray - tennis' hottest player entering the tournament - in the fourth round and 2008 runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarter-finals.

"Verdasco was playing unbelievable," Nadal said. "I think I was very good mentally all the time, believing in the victory."

For his part, Verdasco thought he might have done his friend a disservice: Nadal was pushed to five sets; Federer needed only straight sets to dispatch Andy Roddick in his semi-final but also got an extra day to rest.

"Really a pity for Rafa for sure that he won the match, that he played that long for the final," said Verdasco, who won the deciding match in Spain's Davis Cup triumph at Argentina last November.

"I want him to be 100 per cent to play that final and to try to win," he added. "He's a big friend. I wish him the best of luck."

Serena Williams warmed up for tonight's women's final against Dinara Safina by combining with sister Venus to win the doubles title. They beat Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova and Japan's Ai Sugiyama 6-3, 6-3 under the roof at Melbourne Park.

It was the eighth Grand Slam doubles title and third in Australia for the Williams sisters, who also won the doubles gold medal at the Beijing Olympics.

Aiming for number one

Serena is aiming for her 10th singles major and to continue a sequence that includes an Australian title in every odd-numbered year since 2003.

Also on the line is the number one ranking, something Serena has already held. Safina has never won a major, coming closest with last year's French Open final loss to Ana Ivanovic.

The 22-year-old Russian was trying to emulate her brother, Marat Safin. He won the 2005 Australian title - a day after Williams won her second one - and also held the number one ranking.