Australian Open 2017: Schedule, Predictions for Friday Melbourne Bracket

The 2017 Australian Open has turned into a classic Grand Slam tournament.

Three of the biggest names in the history of the sport have reached the championship round, and there's an excellent chance that a fourth could join the party.

Serena and Venus Williams earned spots in the women's final as they played their best tennis in the semifinal round.

Roger Federer, in his comeback tournament after knee surgery kept him from playing in the last six months of 2016, reached the men's final after a five-set victory over countryman Stan Wawrinka.

If Rafael Nadal can beat Grigor Dimitrov in the other semifinal Friday, he will meet Federer for the championship.

It was no surprise to see No. 2 seed Serena earn a trip to the final. The 35-year-old is in pursuit of the 23rd Grand Slam title of her career. She defeated Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-2, 6-1 to earn her spot in the championship round. 

Serena had little trouble in dominating the match in 50 minutes, while Venus was pushed to the limit by American CoCo Vandeweghe and took the match by a 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-3 score. The elder Williams sister has an opportunity to win the eighth Grand Slam title of her career.

Player	Player	Time (ET)	Prediction
Rafael Nadal (9)	Grigor Dimitrov (15)	3:30 a.m.	Nadal

This will mark the 28th time the two sisters have faced off in tournament play, and Serena holds a 16-11 edge. It's the first time they have met in a championship round at a Grand Slam tournament since Wimbledon 2009, which Venus won.

Six-time Australian Open winner Serena is 6-2 against her sister in Grand Slam championship matches.

Venus was first to qualify for the championship round, and her sibling made it shortly after with her demolition of Lucic-Baroni.

"[Venus is] a total inspiration," Serena said in an on-court interview (h/t Greg Garber of ESPN.com). "My big sister, she's basically my world and my life. I was so happy for her, really. For us both to be in the final is the biggest dream come true for us."

"This is a golden time, a golden time," Venus said, per Johnette Howard of ESPN.com. "I couldn't ask for anything more."

The 36-year-old is the oldest woman to play in the Australian Open championship round—Martina Navratilova was 37 when she played for the Wimbledon title in 1994.

The combined age of the Williams sisters is 71, and that makes them the oldest pair to play for a title in any women's Grand Slam tournament.

Elsewhere, Federer continued the run of veteran players reaching the final with his 7-5, 6-3, 1-6, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Wawrinka. The 35-year-old is the oldest male to reach the final of a Grand Slam tournament since Australian Ken Rosewall accomplished the feat in 1974 at age 39. 

Dita Alangkara/Associated Press/Associated Press

The Swiss appeared to be in great shape against compatriot Wawrinka, taking the first two sets. But the 31-year-old called a medical timeout for treatment to his knee, and the break helped his game as he won the next two sets.

Federer called his own timeout, which shifted the momentum again. He earned his advantage when Wawrinka double-faulted on the final point of the sixth game.

Four-time Australian Open champion Federer knows that an epic final will be on the cards if Nadal defeats Dimitrov. The pair have been rivals throughout their careers, and the Swiss superstar has struggled against the Spaniard. Nadal leads the all-time series by a 23-11 margin.

Nevertheless, Federer has nothing but admiration for Nadal.

"Rafa's definitely presented the biggest challenge," Federer said, per Matt Wilansky of ESPN.com. "I played him too many times on clay early in my career, and it affected how I played him on other surfaces. This court allows me to play offense. I'm probably his No. 1 fan. His game is tremendous. I'm happy we've had some epic battles over the years."

Nadal has been impressive in winning five straight matches to get to the semifinal against Dimitrov. He had two relatively easy victories in the first two rounds against Florian Mayer and Marcos Baghdatis. He was pushed to five sets by Alexander Zverev before beating Gael Monfils in four sets.

Nadal played a powerful match in beating third-seeded Milos Raoncic in straight sets.

Dimitrov has dropped just two sets in his first five matches, and he was overpowering in his 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 quarterfinal victory over David Goffin.

Nadal is known for his remarkable forehand and his ability to carve artful shots that are often just out of reach of his opponents. However, in his victory over Raoncic, his backhand was quite effective and that shot helped keep his opponent off balance.

Dimitrov should be a very tough opponent. He has won 10 straight matches this year, and he demonstrated his resiliency against Goffin by saving eight of the 10 break points he faced in the match.

Venezuelan coach Dani Vallverdu has helped sharpen Dimitrov's game since the two started working together at last year's Wimbledon Open.

Since then, the partnership has helped the Bulgarian improve quite a bit. At the start of their partnership, Dimitrov was ranked 40th and that ranking improved to 23rd by the end of 2016.

Vallverdu said the focus on his work with Dimitrov has been to work on his strengths. Those include his serve, forehand and movement, according to Simon Cambers in his ESPN.com story.