Federer advances, weather interrupts Nadal-Murray match

No. 2 Roger Federer and No. 3 Novak Djokovic managed to complete their early semifinal match, but No. 1 Rafael Nadal and No. 6 Andy Murray weren’t so lucky. Federer defeated Djokovic, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, to advance his 17th career Grand Slam title match, while Murray and Nadal were in set three when rain led to the postponement of the second semifinal match.

Murray, a recent winner in his first Masters Series title match (Cincinnati), held a two set lead on Nadal, looking to advance to his first career Grand Slam final. Murray took the first two sets 6-2, 7-6 (5), but Nadal was up a break at 3-2 in the third when the match was delayed. That match will take place at 4:00 tomorrow afternoon and will be followed by the Men’s Singles Final.
While Nadal and Murray will battle for that final spot, Federer will be resting up a bit after his semifinal win. Federer got off to solid start this morning, jumping to a 4-1 lead before closing out the opening set, 6-3. Federer found himself down 4-2 in the second, but tied the match at 5-5 and fought off two set points at 5-6 before mishitting an approach shot to surrender the second, 7-5.

In the third, the two found themselves at a familiar score of 5-5, but Federer managed to break the third-ranked Djokovic and served it out to take the next frame at 7-5. In the fourth, Djokovic struggled to keep up with Federer and the Swiss man finished Djokovic off to advance to the championship match. Federer fired 20 aces in the match and hit just one double fault, while his 28 unforced errors were 19 less than Djokovic’s 47.

Afterwards, Federer spoke of his relief to make it through to the finals, where he will seek to become the US Open’s second ever champion of five straight years.

“I started great and that was it,” he said. “It’s been hard all week to break against the wind. I’m happy I got my match through so it’ll be fair conditions for tomorrow.”