MELBOURNE: Rafael Nadal extended his mastery over longtime rival Roger Federer as he stormed into the Australian Open final in straight sets on Friday.

Spanish top seed Nadal defeated the 17-time Grand Slam champion 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 6-3 in a dominant semi-final win lasting two hours and 24 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

In 33 meetings in their great, if one-sided, rivalry, Nadal now leads Federer 23-10 and has won their last six matches in Slams as well as their last five meetings on all stages.

`I played probably my best match of the tournament. Roger came into the match winning two great matches against (JoWilfried) Tsonga and Andy (Murray),` Nadal said.

`I`m really happy with the way I played tonight. It`s a very special moment to have the chance to play in another final.

Nadal, the 2009 champion, will line up in his third Australian final against Stanislas Wawrinka and he has yet to lose or even drop a set to the Swiss eighth seed in their 12 matches.

He is also bidding to win his second Australian Open title and become only the third man along with Roy Emerson and Rod Laver to win each of the four Grand Slam titles twice.

With the loss, Federer also ceded the mantle of Switzerland`s number one player, an honour he has held since 2001, to Wawrinka.

`I think Rafa played well. He`s played me this way many times.

I`m not sure if I served as good as I could have,` a deflated Federer said.

Nadal, seemingly untroubled by a large blister on his serving hand, progressively got stronger during the semi-final and broke Federer`s serve four times, losing his only once.

Nadal hit 28 winners to 25 unforced errors, while under-pressure Federer made 50 unforced errors and won just 23 of 42 points he contested at the net.

Federer fought off break points in two service games before taking the opening set to a tiebreaker, but volleying errors cost the Swiss and Nadal cruised to the first set with two set points.

The gap widened in the second set with Nadal ruthless in his groundstrokes and putting Federer under pressure to hold serve in the fourth game, before breaking him with a forehand winner in his next service game.

Whatever Federer sent back over the net, the Spaniard returned with a vengeance andhe ripped a series of stunning forehand winners.

Italy`s Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci successfully defended the women`s doubles title, staging a stunning comeback to down Russian fifth seeds EkaterinaMakarova and Elena Vesnina.

The Russians were up 5-2 in the third and deciding set and twice served for the championship, but they couldn`t find the killer touch and lost 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.

Errani and Vinci, the top seeds, were in their third straight Australian final and the win was their fourth Grand Slam crown, following Roland Garros and the US Open in 2012 and Australia last year.

Meanwhile, Sania Mirza of India and her mixed doubles partner Horia Tecau of Romania entered the final after winning their come-from-behind semifinal.

The India-Romania pair defeated the Australian pair of Jarmila Gajdosova and Matthew Ebden 26, 6-3, 10-2 in a contest lasting an hour and 13 minutes.

In a see-saw battle, Sania and Tecau were outplayed in the opening set, during which they failed to earn even a single break point. Gajdosova and Ebden were markedly better with their first serve to pocket the opener in 28 minutes.

But Sania and Tecau roared back into the match in the second set.

The Indo-Romanian pair held serve and converted the only break point they earned.

They were also helped by the nine unforced errors, which their rivals committed, to stay afloat in the match.

Sania and Tecau were immaculate in the decider and did not commit a single unforced error en route to outwitting the local favourites.

Sania and Tecau will be up against the French-Canadian combination of Kristina Mladenovic and Daniel Nestor who beat Zheng Jie of Chian and Scott Lipsky of the USA 6-3, 6-1 in the other semi-final.

If Sania and Tecau win the summit clash, it would be the Indian`s third mixed doubles Grand Slam title and the second Australian Open mixed doubles title.

Sania had earlier won the trophy with Mahesh Bhupathi in 2009.-Agencies