MELBOURNE, Australia — Roger Federer can grab a share of tennis history with a win over Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final on Sunday, when the two best players in men's tennis will reach a milestone just by walking onto the court at Rod Laver Arena.

It will mark the first time that Federer and Nadal have met each other in a Grand Slam final outside of London or Paris. They've played each other six times in major finals — three on grass at Wimbledon and three on clay at Roland Garros.

This time it'll be on hard courts at Melbourne Park, where Federer will have a chance to equal Pete Sampras' Grand Slam singles record of 14.

"Playing Rafa is obviously more exciting because of the history we have playing in so many Grand Slam finals," Federer said. "Him being the best player in the world at the moment ... a very intriguing match."

Federer will have an advantage as far as preparation and recuperation. Nadal needed a tournament-record 5 hours, 14 minutes to beat fellow Spanish left-hander Fernando Verdasco in a marathon five-set semifinal Friday, while Federer beat American Andy Roddick in three sets on Thursday.

That gives Federer about 2 days and 21 hours to get ready for the final, and Nadal about 1 day and 18 hours.

"For sure it will be a little bit tough, Roger has a bit of an advantage over me," Nadal said. "He's resting right now and for sure he has two days off and one match of only three sets, so at the moment he's for sure the favorite."

Not in head-to-head matches, though. Nadal, who overtook Federer for the No. 1 ranking in August, has a 12-6 career edge over the Swiss star, including the last four times they've met.

The highest-profile of those victories was last year's Wimbledon final, where Nadal finally broke through for his first All-England title in a five-set thriller, including 9-7 in the fifth.

Before that, Federer had always ruled on grass, beating Nadal in four and five sets, respectively, in 2006 and 2007.

At the French Open, it's been all Nadal, although Federer had managed to win four sets off the Spaniard in 2006 and 2007 before being embarrassed last year at Roland Garros, where he won only four games and lost the third set 6-0.

Federer, as is his way, will use some of those past experiences, both good and bad, to his advantage.

"Starting the year well at the Australian Open, winning maybe potentially your first French, getting Wimbledon back after the epic I had with Rafa there, and then winning my sixth at the U.S. Open," Federer replies confidently when asked about his goals for 2009.

"That's kind of what's in my mind. And then with good play at the ATP events, at the Masters Series, which I didn't play great last year in, I hope to pick up few of those to get my No. 1 ranking back. That's my mind-set going into a new season."

Federer is playing like it here, with the exception of one match where he lost the first two sets to Tomas Berdych but came back to win the next three.

Otherwise, he made Juan Martin del Potro look helpless in a 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 win and was dominant throughout in beating Roddick 6-2, 7-5, 7-5.

Nadal hadn't dropped a set until losing the first against Verdasco on Friday night, but came back to win 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (2), 6-7 (1), 6-4 in a match that started just before 8 p.m. and ended just after 1 a.m Saturday.

At 2:30 a.m., Nadal began a news conference. Federer, no doubt, had been asleep for several hours, unaware who he'd play in the final.

Nadal, with the clock ticking toward 3 a.m., refused to blame the scheduling, saying he had a Thursday semifinal last year, but lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

"For sure Roger's going to be in much better performance physically than me for the final," Nadal said. "But at the same time I'm going to try to be recovered for the final and play my best."

As he prepared to answer questions in Spanish, his tired eyes lit up when he was asked about his first crack at Federer in a Grand Slam final on hard courts.

"It's always special to play Federer in any match," he said. "Another Grand Slam final is exciting, and here in Australia, the first one. But all the time, against the same — the best."