Djokovic and Nadal to meet in Australian Open final ... strap in for another six hours?

Seven years ago they faced off in the final at Melbourne Park and the result was the longest grand slam final in history at five hours, 53 minutes.

Both players were so exhausted afterward that — seemingly in an unprecedented move — they were given chairs during the trophy presentation.

Djokovic won that day and even with Nadal's glittering form this fortnight, the top-ranked Serb enters their 53rd duel as the favorite.

World No. 2 Nadal booked his passage into the last stage Thursday evening by crushing 20-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas while Djokovic progressed Friday evening by similarly dismantling maiden grand slam semifinalist Lucas Pouille of France 6-0 6-2 6-2 in a quick fire one hour, 23 minutes.

Overall Djokovic has won eight of his last 10 matches against Nadal, the two blips coming in a phase when the 31-year-old was out of form. He holds a 27-25 record against the 32-year-old.

Outside Nadal's stronghold of the French Open, he has not beaten Djokovic at a major since the 2013 US Open final.

Djokovic's stunning five hour, 15-minute victory over Nadal in last year's Wimbledon semifinals proved to the defining men's match of 2018.

A day later Djokovic downed a fatigued Kevin Anderson in the final to snap his two-year grand slam drought — even if not tired, the South African would have entered as the hefty underdog — and backed that up by triumphing to reach 14 majors.

Should he prevail Sunday, Djokovic would move to within two majors of Nadal. Meanwhile if Nadal wins, he would move to within two of men's all-time leader Roger Federer.

Much at stake, then.

Nadal has yet to drop a set this Australian Open and Djokovic now looks to be in stellar form too following hiccups against flashy Canadian Denis Shapovalov in the third round and the lanky, gifted Russian Daniil Medvedev in the fourth.

The latter was a physical match, so Djokovic certainly didn't mind when quarterfinal opponent Kei Nishikori retired with a thigh issue in under an hour.

A rested and recovered Djokovic then pummeled the 24-year-old Pouille.

The 28th-seeded Frenchman — coached by Andy Murray's former coach Amelie Mauresmo — taking Djokovic to deuce in the first game of the match was the best it got for him.

Pouille was quite simply overwhelmed by the relentless baseline pressure from Djokovic, who coupled 11 winners with a solitary unforced error in the opener.

Djokovic only slightly diminished in sets two and three.

Such was the one-way traffic it resembled another Australian Open semifinal where a Frenchman was blown off court. Federer routed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in one hour, 28 minutes in 2010. That, too, was a Friday night affair.

Hardly the outing Tsonga wanted heading into the weekend.

For most tennis fans, though, a Djokovic-Nadal final is probably — after Federer's departure in the fourth round — exactly what they were hoping for.

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