2017 Australian Open: Schedule, TV coverage and live stream for Friday

One half of the men’s singles final for the 2017 Australian Open is already set, and the other will be decided on Friday. Ninth seed Rafael Nadal will take on 15th seed Grigor Dimitrov in the semifinals to determine who will get a shot at Roger Federer for the title on the tournament’s final day.

Play on the day will actually get started with the mixed doubles semifinal and the women’s doubles final, featuring second seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova up against 12th seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Shuai Peng. The men’s semifinal between Nadal and Dimitrov will be in the evening in Melbourne.

In the United States, it’s a bit different. Play begins late on Thursday evening with the aforementioned doubles matches, while the men’s semifinals will get underway at 3:30 a.m. ET on Friday morning. ESPN will carry live coverage of the men’s semifinals and a live stream will be available via WatchESPN.

Nadal and Dimitrov have played each other eight times, with Nadal winning seven of them. They have played many close matches, however, and only three of the eight have ended in straight-set victories, two of which were won by Nadal and the other being Dimitrov’s lone win.

One thing going for Dimitrov is that the lone win came last year, in Beijing on the hard surface. That was a quarterfinal match that Dimitrov won, 6-2, 6-4. Dimitrov has never played in a Grand Slam final, and this is only his second-ever semifinal appearance, the first being at Wimbledon in 2014.

The winner of the match will take on 17th seed Roger Federer. Federer made it past fourth seed Stan Wawrinka in the semifinals on Thursday.

The women’s final between second seed Serena Williams and 13th seed Venus Williams, her sister, will take place on Saturday.

All Times Eastern

Time: 3:30 a.m. - 6 a.m.

Location: Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

TV: ESPN

Online Streaming: WatchESPN