 Rafael Nadal admits he needs to play the match of his life to beat Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final tomorrow. Nadal, 20, became the youngest finalist at the All England Club since Boris Becker in 1986 by beating Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 6-1 7-5 6-3 in the semi-finals on Centre Court. The second seed is the only player to have beaten Federer in 2006, winning all four of their matches, including the French Open final less than a month ago. But he is well aware the defending champion is aiming to join Bjorn Borg and Pete Sampras as the only players in the open era to win four straight titles at Wimbledon, and the Swiss star has yet to drop a set in the Championships. "I have beaten him a few times this year, but it's his surface. I need to play the best match in my life to win so I'm going to try to do that," said Nadal, who is only the second Spanish player to reach the final. Manolo Santana won the title in 1966. "I fear Roger on every surface, but here even more. He has been winning very easy and won the last three times here, and now he is in the final. It's going to be a very, very difficult match against one of the best players in history, especially on this surface. "I'm very emotional, for me it's a dream to be in this final. It was very difficult to come here just two weeks after the French Open. It was a tough match. The first set maybe not so tough, but the second and third were tough and I was down a lot of break points. "But I played with a lot of concentration and unbelievable motivation all the time." Baghdatis would testify to that, the 18th seed getting off to a nightmare start with a string of unforced errors gifting his opponent the opening set in just half an hour. The Centre Court crowd must have been fearing another one-sided contest similar to Federer's demolition of Jonas Bjorkman in just 77 minutes, but they certainly got their money's worth from then on. Baghdatis, who took a set off Federer in this year's Australian Open final, saved three break points at the start of the second set, and two more in the 10th game after delighting spectators with a spectacular backhand from between his legs. The 21-year-old was clearly the sentimental favourite, despite having beaten Britain's Andy Murray in the fourth round, and he looked certain to force a tie-break only for Nadal to produce a brilliant forehand winner which landed right on the line on set point. Nadal was being made to fight to win almost every service game, but amazingly has not lost his serve since the second round, when he came from two sets down against American qualifier Robert Kendrick. And the talented left-hander was producing moments of sheer inspiration when necessary to break Baghdatis, always forcing his opponent to play one more shot and then taking advantage of a net cord to forge a 3-2 lead. Baghdatis continued to battle and was the victim of a bad line call when he was poised to break back in the seventh game. But he conceded later: "It happens to everybody. I cannot say that turned the match, I was two sets down. "I was a bit nervous at the start, I wasn't so confident on the court, I wasn't having fun. After that I relaxed and just played great tennis. "I cannot say it was a bad match. I was playing quite well, but I didn't find the solution to win. That's the most difficult thing, frustrating. "The most positive thing is that I feel close to the top, and close to Nadal, close to Federer." | 
