New York: World No.1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia survived a five-set battle to outclass Stanislas Wawrinka 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Saturday, setting up a meeting with World No.2 Rafael Nadal of Spain in Monday's US Open final. "That's what we live for, what we practise for," said the Serbian who reached his fourth straight US Open final, about the epic 249-minute match against ninth-seeded Swiss. "I gave everything of my own," said the 28-year-old Wawrinka, who won the respect in his Grand Slam semi-final debut.
It wasn't the longest match between the two players. They had played each other in the Australian Open and Djokovic also won in five sets, which lasted for 302 minutes, 53 minutes longer than Saturday's match. "I think that is completely different match than the match we played in the Australian Open. In the Australian Open, I had to play my best game to stay with him." The first set was a surprising one, in which the ninth seed made three breaks to win 6-2. Wawrinka took his good form into the second set, breaking the 26-year-old Serbian to lead 4-2.
Djokovic refused to give up, winning the next three games to overtake the Swiss and lead 5-4. Both players kept the serve until the tiebreak, in which Wawrinka made a key double fault to lose 7-4. The third set went smoothly in the first seven games, and Wawrinka managed to break afterwards, holding serve to take a 2-1 lead. Djokovic took back a set by 6-3, taking the match into the decisive fifth set. The 21-minute game took place after 1-1. Wawrinka's service game produced as many as 12 deuces. The World No.10 saved five break points to hold his serve, giving himself a 2-1 lead.
"Wawrinka was a better player for most of the better part of the match because he was aggressive and played better tennis," said Djokovic about the game. "Other hand, I just tried to hang on and fight and be mentally tough and believe all the way...thought I can actually win. However, Wawrinka felt more difficult to keep his next serve, dropping the game to allow Djokovic to lead 3-2. Neither player was able to break in the following game and Djokovic finally won the match 6-4. The two players tied in total points won 165-165, Wawrinka hit 19 more winners than his opponent, but made 23 more unforced errors. Djokovic will fight for his second Grand Slam title this season. He won the Australian Open earlier this year. He had played US Open final in last three years, but only took the title in 2011. "Playing four finals now in a row and five in total, I mean, it's great," said Djokovic. "Seven, eight years that I have been coming back here I have played at least semi-finals in every US Open. Fantastic."
