Djokovic, Federer reach finals
NEW YORK — At 34, and more than three years removed from his most recent Grand Slam title, Roger Federer arrived at this U.S. Open with some changes in store.
There’s his much-discussed “SABR” — “Sneak Attack By Roger” — tactic, in which he half-volleys the occasional second-serve return. He skipped a hard-court tuneup tournament last month, choosing to rest and prepare. And he’s now completely comfortable with the larger racket head he had experimented with off and on in the past.
Add it all up, and he might just be playing as well as ever, which is saying something for a guy that owns a record 17 major titles.
Federer moved into his first U.S. Open final since 2009 with the latest in a string of dominating performances, overwhelming longtime pal and Swiss Olympic and Davis Cup teammate Stan Wawrinka 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 on Friday night.
“What’s it been now? Six years I haven’t been in the final? Sounds like a big deal,” Federer said. “Not that long ago, my opinion.”
As for the quality of his play over the past two weeks — he has won all 18 sets he’s played, dropped only 62 games, and been broken only twice in 81 service games — Federer said: “It’s definitely very good. Maybe my best, I’m not sure. ... I’d love it to work just one more time.”
That would be in Sunday’s final, which is a blockbuster: The No. 2-seeded Federer meets No. 1 Novak Djokovic, owner of nine major titles himself.
Believe it or not, Djokovic’s match Friday was even less competitive. He beat defending champion Marin Cilic 6-0, 6-1, 6-2, the most lopsided semifinal in New York in the Open era, which started in 1968.
“There’s a lot on the line always when we play against each other,” said Federer, who beat Djokovic in the 2007 U.S. Open final but lost semifinals to him in 2010 and 2011, both 7-5 in the fifth set.
It is their record-tying 42nd career matchup overall — only Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have played each other that often in the Open era — and Federer leads 21-20. He won their most recent match, on a hard court last month at the Cincinnati Masters. This will be their sixth meeting of 2015, all in finals, and Djokovic has won three, including the Wimbledon final two months ago.
“We all know how consistent he is and how good he is in the latter stages of Grand Slams and any other big tournament,” Djokovic said.
