For all his glorious accomplishments, some of them quite unprecedented, Rafael Nadal seems destined to follow in the massive wake of Roger Federer.

Rafa will be the favorite to win his 10th French Open later this spring, and he's beaten Federer 23 of the 36 times they've met (the record is 6-3 in major finals).

With Federer well into his 36th year, you would think it's time for Nadal to bask for a few moments at the top of the podium. But it hasn't worked out that way for the 30-year-old Spaniard. He's been playing great, but lost to Federer in the finals of the Australian Open and again in the fourth round of Indian Wells.

Rafael Nadal is one win away from capturing his first career Miami Open trophy. Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Nadal's 19 match wins are the most among ATP World Tour players this year. If not for Federer, who is 18-1, the remarkable renaissance of Nadal would be the leading tennis storyline of 2017.

And now, they will meet again in Sunday's Miami Open final -- their third encounter in 63 days. For the first time in his career, Nadal has lost to Federer three times in a row.

But while Federer has reinvented himself -- his backhand and psyche have seen surprising makeovers -- Nadal quietly has kept grinding. Friday afternoon the No. 5 seed handled unseeded Fabio Fognini 6-1, 7-5 in the semifinals.

"Was a while without playing [Federer]," Nadal said in his on-court interview. "Now, since beginning of season maybe three times.

"He's an unbelievable player. Excited to play against him. Always big challenge. Great news for me is a great finish for me before the clay."

Nadal served beautifully, winning 41 of his 50 service points and did not face a break point. Varying his traditional patterns under new coach Carlos Moya -- particularly, to the forehand -- Nadal's offerings seemed to baffle Fognini, who once beat him at the US Open.

Fognini, a flashy yet efficient player, was playing in only his second semifinal at a Masters 1000. His ranking will rise appreciably, 12 spots, to No. 28.

Earlier in the week, Nadal played his 1,000th career ATP match, coming back to defeat Philipp Kohlschreiber.

"One thousand matches is a lot of matches, obviously," he observed afterward. "And good news, because that says that I am having a long career. That's something important, especially that during a lot of years I heard that I was going to have a short career."

Indeed, the wear and tear of his muscular game has always been a concern for Nadal and his fans. He concedes he's not practicing as much as before, and it's clear the addition of Moya to his team has given Nadal a fresh set of eyes and a new approach to tactics.

For those of you envisioning a full year of Rafa and Roger's epic rivalry playing out at the end of tournaments, we would advise you, in the words of Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, to relax.

The Nos. 1- and 2-ranked players in the world, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, sat this one out to tend to ailing elbows. Djokovic is expected to return next week for Serbia's Davis Cup quarterfinal.

"The year just start," Nadal said earlier this week. "We have nine Masters 1000s; we only played one. We have four Grand Slams. We only played one. We have a lot of 500 tournaments; we only played a couple of them.

"So it's true that Roger started unbelievable, and that's great. Is true that probably Andy and Novak didn't start as well as they did last couple of years. But in my opinion, they are probably favorites because they have been there for the last couple of years, playing more consistent than what we did.

"So it's very early. I feel that I am playing well. Just let's see what happens here."