Final Four

Nadal, Murray, Djokovic and Federer: the four most favoured men to reach the semifinals of the US Open did indeed live up to that expectation and met on Saturday to battle for the coveted spots in the final. Even though Nadal and Murray played their quarterfinal matches on Wednesday, they were scheduled to play the late session after Federer an Djokovic woke the stage. Federer, looking to defend his title, came out to dismiss Nole as he did so handily last year. Lucky for Roger, the Serb didn't seem come out with a vengeance to win. Djokovic, who had turned the New York audience against him just days ago, played a somewhat sloppy first set, giving the sharp Swiss every opportunity to take his shots (which he did to quickly take the set 6-3). Novak realised, then, what he was playing for and blew his way to a 4-2 lead in the second before Federer could break back to even it at 5 all. Federer could not gain ground though and lost the set 5-7.

The play of the match, by far, came in the third set. Djokovic, who was serving, had hit a powerful overhead that appeared to be just out of Federer's reach. He was 7 feet behind the baseline, on the run and saw Novak coming to net -- if Roger were even going to get to the ball, an error would have been expected. Instead, he jumped up (scissor-kicking!) and carved the ball over Djokovic's head, landing just inside the baseline: a shot the Swiss champion had invented days ago against Andreev. Such beauty, such perfection. Thereon, Federer was on cruise control and easily went on defeat the 3rd seed and enter himself into a match for the title.

The other side of the draw saw Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray. Neither was a strong favourite against or over the other but the crowd immediately got behind Rafa as tennis fans were longing for another Federer-Nadal, epic, final. Despite that, Murray showed that he came to play. He had nothing to lose; this was his first grand slam semi and he was fighting for his first grand slam final. Andy had already topped his career performances and so now everything became icing on the already scrumptious cake.

The nerves may have plagued the Spaniard though, as he had never gotten past the quarters in New York, and could not play to the level we were used to seeing. Instead of stepping in to jump on Murray's serves he stood far away and just blocked every ball back, allowing the Scot to move forward and direct a winner wherever he'd like. Murray took every one of these opportunities, charging the net and powerfully flicked balls to the empty court. Andy, interestingly, received Nadal's serves from well behind the baseline and moved inside it after taking a full swing. Andy ran Rafa all over the court, fully exhausting him and was victorious in four sets, stretched over two days.

And so it's set: Federer vs. Murray. Though Murray comes in with a winning record over Federer (2-1), Roger was the obvious bet. He has made it to 18 consecutive semifinal grand slams and was playing the type of tennis which had given him his invincibility status. In fact, if Federer were to win this US Open, he will be the only player, ever, to have a winning streak of 5 years in a row for two different grand slam tournaments.

However, we are reminded of the 2000 Open final when the heart favourite, Pete Sampras met the Russian, Marat Safin. Safin, like the current Murray, had never appeared in a major final but went on to beat the American son. On an odd Monday night final, will Federer make history? Or will the pang of the past repeat itself?