Defending champion Rafael Nadal booked a US Open title showdown against world number one Novak Djokovic on Saturday with a bruising 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 win over British fourth seed Andy Murray. Nadal, the second seed, will be playing in his 14th Grand Slam final on Monday in what will be a repeat of last year's final where he became the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam.
Djokovic, the Australian Open and Wimbledon champion, took his 2011 record to 63 wins against just two defeats, and reached a sixth career Grand Slam final, with a 6-7 (7/9), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 win over five-time champion Roger Federer. In a repeat of his semi-final heroics of 2010, the Serb once again saved two match points to beat Federer.
Defeat in the final Grand Slam of the year also means Federer's streak of consecutive seasons with at least one major title ends at eight. He claimed the last of his record 16 Grand Slam crowns at the 2010 Australian Open.
"I played my best match of this US Open today," said Nadal, the winner of 10 Grand Slam titles, after completing his 13th win in 17 meetings with Murray.
"I have played Novak five times this year, all in finals, and lost them all. I hope to have better luck this time and I hope New York will help me."
Nadal made sure he could get the majority of support in the final by taking time to remember the victims of the September 11 attacks, ahead of the 10th anniversary on Sunday.
"I just want to send all of my support to the families of the victims of September 11th. I have terrible memories of that day," said the Spaniard, whose victory Saturday was helped by Murray committing 55 unforced errors to his 23.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.