Not that this is anything new. We saw the same script played out in most of their previous 32 meetings. The tallest edifice in modern tennis is now tilting even more precipitously in Nadal's favour, with 23 wins to just 10 losses. In grand slams, the bias is 9-2 in the Spaniard's favour.
While the match offered little in terms of drama, the quality of play was high. Murray's former coach, Brad Gilbert, put it well when he tweeted: "Rafa in beast mode and that cannot be stopped." Indeed Nadal was almost unrecognisable from the erratic, anxious character who had struggled to subdue Grigor Dimitrov - the man known as "Baby Fed" - in four sets on Wednesday. Few athletes in history can match Nadal's ability to summon his A-game when it is most urgently required. The bad news for Stan Wawrinka, the next Swiss to face the Spanish threshing machine, is that the blister on the palm of Nadal's left hand is clearing up, and his serve was back to its full speed against Federer. This left no apparent weakness in his thunderous, bull-fighter's game. Federer had to wait until the third set before he earned so much as a break point.
"I think I am quick today," Nadal said, which is about as close as this humble man ever comes to bigging himself up. "I produce great shots from very difficult positions. The movements are ready and I feel the power in the legs."
There had been a rare sense of anticipation around Rod Laver Arena on Friday night; the fans were desperate for Federer to maintain the sharpness that had sunk Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Murray.
Such has been the rejuvenation of Federer over the past fortnight that his whole tournament has felt like a bonus for Melbourne's tennis community: an unexpected chance to see the greatest artist of his generation playing somewhere near his peak.
But the excitement began to drain after a tight first set, in which Federer just about managed to hang on to his serve, only to be outmuscled in the tie-break. This was the moment when the trainer came on to fix Nadal's increasingly minimalist blister tape (which gave Nadal more control of his racket than he had when fully strapped on Wednesday, but also left him worrying that the covering might just slip off).
It was also the moment when Federer got stuck into umpire Jake Garner about the grunting. Asked later if the noise had distracted him, Federer replied: "Not when he does it every point. But it goes in phases. One point he does and he doesn't. That's just what I was complaining about."
Federer was also being forced to wait far longer than the allotted 20 seconds between points when Nadal was serving, which also came up at the post-match press conference. "Rafa is doing a much better job today than he used to," Federer said. "But he's gotten two point penalties over the course of our rivalry. I just think that's not quite happening. It's important to enforce the rules on all the players the same way."
If it sounds as if Federer was sniping, that would be misleading. For the most part, he was upbeat about his month in Australia, which delivered a runner-up finish in Brisbane followed by his first grand slam semifinal for a year.
"I'm not too disappointed tonight because I feel it's been a good start," he said. "I needed a good moment again because I've been going through a tougher time. I still feel my best tennis is only ahead of me right now. So I'm looking forward to the next couple of months, and hopefully, by April, I feel like I'm going to be at 100 per cent again."
