MELBOURNE- A rejuvenated Roger Federer may get his best chance to end his Grand Slam torment against Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open with the top seed plagued by a blister on his hand.

The Swiss all-time Grand Slam champion has not beaten Nadal in five Slam encounters since his 2007 Wimbledon final triumph, in a period of dominance by the Spanish world number one.

But a combination of Federer's resurgence under Swedish mentor Stefan Edberg, and Nadal's blister-induced weakened serve, has thrown open the outcome of Friday's blockbuster semi-final.

Nadal was clearly discomfited by the ugly blister in the palm of his serving hand as he spluttered with seven double-faults, two on break points, in his battling four-set win over Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-finals.

The 13-time Grand Slam champion, 27, complained that a lack of confidence in his weakened serve made him vulnerable against the rising Bulgarian star.

"I served slower. I served bad," said Nadal, who is on a 10-match winning run. "I felt my biggest problem was the serve because serving like this gives me a problem with everything else," he added.

"When you lose confidence with one important shot like the serve, then you are not able to play the rest of the shots with confidence."

"So I'm going to try to improve that, because I'll need it in the semi-final if I'm going to have the chance to be in the final."

SOURCE: AFP