MELBOURNE, Australia -- Rafael Nadal continued his dominant streak over Roger Federer to reach the Australian Open final for the third time, beating the 17-time major winner 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-3 Friday night to set up a championship decider against No. 8-seeded Stan Wawrinka. With his 23rd win in 33 matches against Federer, the 27-year-old Spaniard set up an ideal chance to win a 14th Grand Slam title and to become the first man to win all four majors at least twice in the Open era. Nadal missed the 2013 Australian Open during a seven-month layoff for illness and a knee injury, but returned to win the French and U.S. Opens among his 10 titles for the season and finished the year at No. 1. He won the Australian Open in 2009, beating Federer in the final, and lost in a five-set, 5-hour, 53-minute 2012 final to Novak Djokovic after ousting Federer in the semis. In other years, hes struggled with injuries -- its the only Grand Slam tournament he hasnt won at least twice. "Its really, really emotional for me to be back on this court, Rod Laver Arena, and to be able to play another final," Nadal said. "I think tonight I played the best match of the tournament. I go on court (against Federer) knowing that is a really tough match and if I am not playing my best, I will not have the chance to win." At the end of the night, Federer knew he wouldnt even be the No. 1-ranked player in Switzerland next week. By reaching his first major final, Wawrinka ensured hed replace Federer as their countrys highest-ranked player for the first time. But the 32-year-old Federer is confident of winning more majors, expecting some coaching from Stefan Edberg and continued improvement in his fitness to help after a slump in 2013, when he didnt reach any of the major finals for the first time in 11 years. "I still think my best tennis is only ahead of me now," said Federer, who reached the Australian Open semifinals for 11 consecutive years. Nadal is now second on the list of players reaching Grand Slam finals, joining Ivan Lendl on 19 -- Federer leads the list with 24. Another Grand Slam title would lift Nadal to equal second on the all-time list with Pete Sampras, who was in the crowd for the match. Nadal has struggled with a blister on the palm of his left hand in his last two matches, but he removed the heavy tape that affected his serve in his quarterfinal win over Grigor Dimitrov and replaced it with one square of adhesive tape. A TV camera got a close-up view of the blister when he took a medical timeout after the first game of the second set, drawing gasps and groans from the crowd. "Too much talk about the blister. The blister is OK," Nadal said in his on-court interview. "The problem ... is the position of the blister, its difficult." But, he said, he didnt feel any pain. He certainly didnt show it if he did. He resisted just about everything Federer threw at him, scrambling to keep balls in play that usually would be winners. Federer served and volleyed, he played with good touch, he played drop shots, he tried everything -- even complaining to the chair umpire about Nadals loud grunting after the tiebreaker -- but his 50 resulting unforced errors doubled the number by his rival. Left-handed Nadal hit 13 of his 28 winners on his powerful forehand, attacking Federers one-handed backhand yet again. "I tried a few things ... then again, Rafa does a good job of neutralizing you," Federer said. "So I guess at times I couldnt quite do what I wanted to do, but thats because of Rafa." The first break of the match came in the sixth game of the second set, giving Nadal a 4-2 lead. That only heightened the crowd support for Federer, who got a standing ovation when he broke Nadal back to make it 2-all in the third set, immediately after dropping serve in the previous game. It noise and chants died down again when Federer was broken again soon after and Nadal finished off the match. Wawrinka beat Tomas Berdych on Thursday night, getting an extra day off ahead of Sundays championship match. Li Na will be hoping for third time lucky in the womens final on Saturday against Dominika Cibulkova. She has reached the finals in three of the past four years, but is yet to win the Australian title. Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci rallied to win the last five games and successfully defended their Australian Open womens doubles title on Friday with a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 victory over Russian pair Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina. Brian ONeill Vikings Jersey ... as usual. Even with the salary cap being set lower than many general managers expected and hoped for at $69 million and whats considered a shallow pool of top-end players available, this unrestricted-free-agent period figures to follow the familiar script of teams bidding up prices to keep up with each other. Daniel Carlson Vikings Jersey .Y. Islanders 4Winnipeg 5 Dallas 2Nashville 3 Colorado 0San Jose 5 Edmonton 2---AHLProvidence 5 St. Johns 4 (OT)Chicago 6 San Antonio 2---NBACleveland 105 Toronto 101Portland 98 Detroit 86New Orleans 104 New York 93Oklahoma City 114 Milwaukee 101Memphis 114 Dallas 105Miami 103 Phoenix 97Utah 100 San Antonio 96L. http://www.shopvikingsauthentic.com/Youth-Jalyn-Holmes-Elite-Jersey/ . The Laval Rouge et Or defensive back/kick-returner gained the invitation following his showing Sunday at an NFL regional combine in Baltimore. Randy Moss Vikings Jersey . Canada will host the second stop on the circuit, the 2014 Skate Canada International in Kelowna, British Columbia from October 31 - November 2, 2014 at Prospera Place. Trevor Siemian Jersey .Do you have to be that close? Federer snapped at a TV cameraman hovering nearby as he received medical advice after losing a set on Wednesday.For Nadal and Sharapova, the nuisance was coming from the lowly-ranked qualifiers across the net.LONDON - Croatia midfielder Niko Kranjcar was ruled out of the World Cup in Brazil on Monday with a hamstring injury that will sideline him for up to six weeks. The playmaker ruptured a muscle in his hamstring during Queens Park Rangers 1-0 win over Derby in the second-tier League Championship playoff match at Wembley Stadium on Saturday. Kranjcar is on loan at QPR from Ukrainian side Dynamo Kyiv. Croatian national-team doctor Boris Nemec is quoted in a statement released by QPR aas saying Kranjcars "rupture is some inches wide and will need between four and six weeks to heal.dddddddddddd." The 29-year-old was one of 12 midfielders included in Croatias provisional 30-man squad named on May 14. He was expected to be in the final group of 23 players due to be announced by head coach Niko Kovac on Saturday. Croatia plays the opening match of the World Cup, against Brazil on June 12. Mexico and Cameroon are the other teams in Group A. Cheap Jerseys ChinaNFL Jerseys ChinaNFL Jerseys WholesaleDiscount Basketball JerseysCheap NHL Jerseys AuthenticCheap Baseball Jerseys Free ShippingCheapest College Jerseys SaleCheap Football Jerseys ChinaNike NFL Jerseys CanadaWholesale NHL Jerseys From ChinaMLB Jerseys Outlet CanadaWholesale NBA Jerseys Canada StoreCheap Soccer Jerseys ChinaCheap Authentic Jerseys Canada ' ' '