NEW YORK – In the end, it was Novak Djokovic who came closer to the Grand Slam than Serena Williams.
Sunday
evening the world’s top-ranked player won a rain-delayed men’s final
against Roger Federer, a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 triumph that gave the
28-year-old Serbian his third major title of the year and 10th of his
career.
Retrospectively,
it was Williams, the women’s No. 1, who came within two matches of
winning all four majors this year, losing in a semifinal here Friday.
Djokovic, however, finishes the Grand Slam season with his trio of major
titles and a runner-up performance at the French Open, where he was
beaten by Stan Wawrinka.
Djokovic won the second U.S. Open title of his career and denied Federer, 34, an 18th major and first since Wimbledon 2012.
Federer dropped a third consecutive major final to Djokovic, having lost in the Wimbledon final in 2014 and again this year.
Djokovic
becomes the first player since Federer himself to win three out of four
majors in a single year, last done in 2007. He evens his head-to-head
record against the Swiss to 21-21, and 3-3 at the Open, including their
last three matches here.
Sunday
was made difficult for both players, as a consistent rain fell from
just shy of match time, 4 p.m. in New York, until 6:30. Players took the
court after 7, with much cooler conditions than they had played in so
far here, the drop in temperature favoring Djokovic’s grinding,
never-say-miss game.
Federer
had been broken only twice in six matches and won 28 consecutive sets
over 11 matches since losing the Wimbledon final a couple of months ago.
Yet Djokovic won on Federer’s service games twice in the first set,
clinching it on his own serve 6-4 when Federer put a backhand into the
net.
In
the second, the two traded holds throughout before Federer had two set
points at 4-5 on Djokovic’s serve, the Serbian saving both of them as
the crowd grew increasingly vocal for the de facto favorite Federer. But
two games later Federer would convert, sending Arthur Ashe Stadium into
a frenzy, Djokovic hitting a backhand wide on set point number four.
The
match tied at a set apiece, it settled into a comfortable pattern of
holds. Federer had the first break point chance of the third at 3-4
Djokovic serving, but after Novak bunted away the opportunity, it was
Federer who cracked, missing a backhand wide and forehand long to allow
Djokovic to serve for the third, which he did.
Djokovic then ran away with the match, breaking in the opening game of the fourth set and then never looking back.
Federer
was playing in his first U.S. Open final since 2009, when he fell to
Juan Martin del Potro. It was just his third major championship match in
three years, having been bothered by back problems for much of 2012 and
2013, when he sank to as low as No. 8 in the world.
Djokovic’s
season comes very close to his historic effort in 2011. The win moves
him to 63-5 on the year as well as to seventh among Grand Slam winners
at 10 titles, tied with Bill Tilden. In 2011, Djokovic was 70-6 overall,
winning 10 titles. The Open was his seventh title of this year and 55th
of his career.
The
win also embeds Djokovic further as the world No. 1, both in the
rankings and in the recent past. He’s reached 16 of the last 21 major
finals (since the 2010 U.S. Open) and has won four majors in the last
six played.
Source: Bidexmedia
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