With the rain delaying the US Open men's final on Sunday, Serbian Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal of Spain, currently the world number one, meet on Monday night in New York
Can world number three Djokovic stop Nadal completing his collection of Grand Slam titles?
Though Djokovic wins the match's opening point his serve is broken in the opening game before Nadal holds his own serve to move 2-0 up
Djokovic hits back with a pair of aces on his serve and takes control of yet another giant rally in the next game, eventually breaking back to make it 2-2
Djokovic saves five break points in game five, only to lose the sixth; Nadal breaks serve, Djokovic breaks his racquet
Nadal, who has yet to lose a set in the tournament, takes the opener 6-4
The Serbian isn't fazed and races to a 4-1 lead in the second set
Just as Djokovic appears to have got a foothold in the match, Nadal fights back to 4-4
With the final delicately poised down comes the rain and off go the players
Spectators are told to "evacuate their seats" with thunder and lightning approaching Flushing Meadows
Djokovic comes out firing on all cylinders when play resumes after a break of one hour and 50 minutes, and he edges the second set to level it up
But Nadal holds his nerve and takes charge early in the crucial third set
Djokovic remains dangerous, coming up with more spectacular winners, but he cannot recover the deficit and falls two sets to one down
Nadal has victory in his sights and rams home the advantage with a double-break in the fourth set
Championship point arrives and Nadal collapses to the ground as he seals a 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-2 victory
The world number one is overcome as he finally grabs the one Grand Slam title to have eluded him
The camaraderie and friendship between Djokovic and Nadal is there for all to see after the match is over
Djokovic must conetent himself with being runner-up at Flushing Meadows for the second time, while Nadal finally gets his hand on the trophy
Nadal joins Roger Federer, Andre Agassi, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver, Don Budge and Fred Perry as winners of the career Grand Slam
~RS~a~RS~International~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~54~RS~){kind=small}
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~54~RS~)
E-mail this to a friend
Bookmark with:
What are these?