Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates after defeating Richard Gasquet of France in their men’s semi-final match at the U.S. Open tennis championships in New York. Photo: Mike Segar / Reuters
The game that will be talked about for years and years needed 198 strokes, 30 points, and 21 minutes to decide. Entire sets have taken less.
It might be easy to conclude that Novak Djokovic won his tense, topsy-turvy US Open semi-final against Stanislas Wawrinka despite dropping that epic third game of the fifth set.
The truth is that the 2011 champion emerged with a 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 victory in 4 hours, 9 minutes on Saturday at least in part because of the one that got away.
“Even though I lost that game, I felt like, ‘OK, he’s getting a little bit more tired, and maybe this is my chance to step in.’” Djokovic said. “And that’s what I (did).”
The No. 1-seeded Djokovic will play No. 2 Rafael Nadal on Monday. It’s their record 37th match against each other, their sixth Grand Slam final, and their third meeting for the championship at Flushing Meadows since 2010.
Nadal was a 6-4, 7-6 (1), 6-2 winner over No. 8 Richard Gasquet of France in Saturday’s second semifinal, which was far less competitive than the first.
Indeed, the tennis and theatrics at 1-all in the last set alone of Djokovic-Wawrinka were so compelling that the game was interrupted twice by standing ovations. – The Associated Press
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