Once again, it’s Nadal vs Federer

The French Open can be humbling, as Federer well knows, but he’ll try again for his first title Sunday against nemesis Rafael Nadal.

The top-ranked Federer endured some messy moments in the semi-final. Knocked down but not out, he wiped off the dirt and defeated unseeded Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-2, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5.

Nadal’s earlier semi-final was close only by his standards: He lost 12 games and nearly conceded a set, but beat No. 3-seeded Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (3).

“Against Federer is special,” Nadal said. “I will try and face history.”

For a brief time, the Nadal-Federer rematch appeared in jeopardy. Federer struggled against Monfils, especially in the final game of the second set, when he looked nervous serving and shanked a forehand on the final shot.

Playing aggressively, Federer reached the net on 64 points — a lot on clay — and won 49.

The last was a crisp backhand volley to break Monfils in the final game. A jubilant Federer pumped his fist, then wearily leaned on the net and shook his head, glad to be still on his feet after 3 hours of taxing tennis.

Nadal became the first man since Ivan Lendl in 1987 to reach four consecutive French Open finals. The result prevented Djokovic from overtaking Nadal for the No. 2 ranking.

Lured to baseline

Nadal repeatedly lured Djokovic into long baseline rallies and won most of them, pushing the Serb from corner to corner with his muscular groundstrokes.

“He plays every point like it’s a match point,” Djokovic said.

Djokovic served poorly for much of the match and struggled to hold, facing 14 break points while Nadal faced only one in the first two sets.

With Nadal up two breaks in the third set at 3-0, Djokovic began to hit his groundstrokes even harder, and the high-risk tactic worked for a while. The Serb twice broke back, the second time to reach 5-all, and had a set point two games later, which Nadal saved with a forehand winner. But Nadal raced to a 6-0 lead. He made...